American billionaire Sergey Brin's $102 million backs California ban on new wealth taxes

The $102 million that American billionaire Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder, spent fighting California's billionaire tax also funded Proposition 42, a measure that would bar the state from imposing new taxes on stocks, business stakes and other financial assets.

Proposition 42 led with 51.6% of the vote against 48.3% as of 10:13 a.m. Pacific time on Nov. 10, with about 83% of the expected ballots counted. Yes votes stood at about 5.73 million and no votes at about 5.37 million. Votes are still being counted, and the race has not been called.

The measure was placed on the ballot by wealthy opponents of Proposition 40, the one-time 5% tax on the net worth of California billionaires that voters rejected in the Nov. 3 election. Billionaires supplied most of the $159 million raised for Proposition 42.

What the measure does

Proposition 42 would ban new taxes on personal property, including business holdings, intellectual property and financial assets such as shares. It would also block any new wealth tax, whether passed by the Legislature or put to voters as a constitutional amendment, and bar lawmakers from applying new taxes retroactively except to deal with a budget emergency.

The measure was written to collide with Proposition 40. If both had passed and Proposition 42 drew more yes votes, the billionaire tax would most likely not have taken effect.

Gov. Gavin Newsom endorsed Proposition 42, as did public safety unions including the California Professional Firefighters and the Peace Officers Research Association of California. Nathan Click, a spokesman for the Yes on 42 campaign, said voters "backed the strongest protections available to protect their hard-earned life savings."

The state's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said the measure could reduce state revenue and make future tax increases harder to pass, though it could not put a figure on the effect. State Sen. John Laird said he did not expect an immediate hit to the budget. "We will want to just drill down to see if it has any unintended consequences on the budget," he said.

The ban would not be permanent. Voters could repeal it with a later ballot measure. "That's not set in stone," said Lorena Gonzalez, head of the California Labor Federation. Rep. Ro Khanna, who campaigned for the billionaire tax, said: "We're going to call out these economic royalists."

Brin's fortune

Brin was the largest single donor in the campaign against the wealth tax. The tax, sponsored by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, would have applied to billionaires living in California on Jan. 1, 2026, to raise money for health care after federal spending cuts.

Brin, 53, co-founded Google with Larry Page in 1998 while both were doctoral students at Stanford University. He served as president of parent company Alphabet Inc. until 2019 and remains a board member and one of its largest individual shareholders, a stake that makes him one of the 10 richest people in the world. He moved companies, money and residences out of California this year as the tax headed for the ballot.