Silicon Valley's billionaires spent 10 to one to kill wealth tax

Billionaires defeat California wealth tax

California voters rejected Proposition 40 on Monday with fifty-two point eight percent opposing it. Silicon Valley's richest spent three hundred seventy-eight point four million dollars to defeat it.

Spending gap favored the opposition

Opponents of Proposition 40 raised three hundred seventy-eight point four million dollars. Supporters raised only thirty-three point five million dollars, a gap of more than ten to one.

What the tax would have done

Proposition 40 would have imposed a one-time five percent tax on the net worth of individuals worth more than one billion dollars who were California residents on January first, twenty twenty-six.

Revenue would fund healthcare

The Legislative Analyst's Office estimated Proposition 40 could generate tens of billions of dollars. Approximately ninety percent would have gone to healthcare services, ten percent to education and food assistance.

Sergey Brin led the opposition

Google cofounder Sergey Brin contributed approximately one hundred two million dollars to Building a Better California, the main committee opposing the wealth tax. He relocated to Nevada in December twenty twenty-five.

Other tech leaders joined the fight

Eric Schmidt, Google's former CEO, contributed forty point two million dollars to oppose the tax. DoorDash CEO Tony Xu, Stripe cofounder Patrick Collison, venture capitalist John Doerr and others also contributed millions.

Democrats split on the measure

Gov. Gavin Newsom opposed Proposition 40, arguing a state-level wealth tax would push wealthy residents out of California. He said he would support a national wealth tax instead.

“Here is what I support: A national billionaires' tax. A true minimum tax on billionaires, a modern Buffett Rule, that ensures the people at the very top pay at least the tax rate their own workers pay.”

Blocking measure passed instead

Proposition 42, which prohibits taxes on personal savings and assets, passed voters. If either Proposition 41 or 42 received more yes votes than Proposition 40, the wealth tax would be blocked even if approved.