Silicon Valley Elite Pour $118 Million to Sink Calif. Wealth Tax
5th July 2026
California’s richest residents are opening their checkbooks to kill a wealth tax before voters can weigh in, with Google co-founder Sergey Brin alone pouring $82 million into the opposition and a small circle of tech billionaires driving the total anti-tax haul past $118 million ahead of the Nov. 3 ballot.
The measure, a one-time tax of up to 5% on the net worth of California residents worth more than $1 billion, became eligible for the November ballot on June 17 after Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced its signature count had cleared the state’s random-sample threshold.
A last-minute offer from sponsor SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West to drop the initiative in exchange for a legislative 2% version was rejected by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and negotiations collapsed before the June 25 withdrawal deadline.
Under the initiative, 90% of revenue would flow to Medi-Cal and other healthcare programs, with 10% split between food assistance and public education. The tax would apply to anyone who was a California resident as of Jan. 1.