Google co-founder spends almost half a billion dollars in fight against California billionaire tax

"The company's former CEO Eric Schmidt donated $1.02m, adding to a previous $2m contribution. The tech titans are battling the California Billionaire Tax Act, often referred to simply as the billionaire tax. It's a proposed ballot measure that would require any California resident worth more than $1bn to pay a one-off, 5% tax on their assets to help cover education, food assistance and healthcare programs in the state."

"For Brin, worth about $247bn, the bill would likely be upwards of $12bn. That stipulation appears to have caused him and several other billionaires to leave California at the end of last year. Brin relocated to a $42m estate on the north-eastern shore of Lake Tahoe in Nevada, and his Pac donations show Reno as his address."

"Brin donated $20m to Building a Better California in January, bringing his total donations to the Pac to $45m. The Super Pac that Brin and Schmidt most recently donated to is called Building a Better California. It's dedicated to sponsoring a separate ballot measure that would kneecap the billionaire tax by banning retroactive taxes."

Sergey Brin, former Alphabet president, doubled his financial opposition to California's Billionaire Tax Act by donating an additional $25 million to a Super Pac, bringing his total to $45 million. Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO, added $1.02 million to his previous $2 million contribution. The proposed ballot measure would tax California residents worth over $1 billion at 5% on their assets to fund education, food assistance, and healthcare. For Brin, valued at approximately $247 billion, the tax could exceed $12 billion. The billionaires' opposition prompted some to relocate; Brin moved to Nevada. The Super Pac, Building a Better California, supports a competing measure banning retroactive taxes to undermine the billionaire tax proposal.

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