Tech’s biggest names sunk a tax on billionaires’ wealth with $425m and a familiar playbook

10 novembre 2026 à 08:19

California saw the most expensive opposition campaign in its history as funding of political campaigns broke records in the US midterms

In the hours after polls closed on election day, tech industry players began praising Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google, on social media.

“Huge thanks to Sergey Brin here,” wrote Garry Tan, the CEO of Y Combinator. Venture capitalist Ilya Sukhar posted: “God bless Sergey Brin.” And David Marcus, a crypto entrepreneur, simply wrote: “Hero.”

US news | The Guardian

California voters fail to pass proposed one-time tax on billionaires’ wealth

Par : Dara Kerr

9 novembre 2026 à 21:54

Campaign over Prop 40, as measure was known, was most expensive in state history, flush with Silicon Valley dollars

California billionaires won a contentious ballot measure campaign, defeating a proposed one-time tax on their wealth.

The bruising campaign over Proposition 40 was the most expensive in state history and witness to back-and-forth dealing from tech billionaires and democratic leaders, including Gavin Newsom, the governor, who steadfastly opposed the measure. While supporters of Prop 40 cast it as a solution to drastic healthcare cuts from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, opponents led by prosperous billionaires mounted an influential campaign saying the billionaire tax was instead “an everyone tax”.