Google co-founder Sergey Brin donated $102 million to the organization Building a Better California, which opposes Proposition 40 — an initiative for a one-time tax on billionaires’ wealth in California. According to the official text, the tax will apply only to state residents on January 1, 2026, and Brin, according to U.S. media reports, left California before that date.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin donated $102 million to the organization Building a Better California, which opposes Proposition 40 — an initiative for a one-time tax on billionaires’ wealth in California. According to the official description, the tax of up to 5% will affect only taxable assets of people with wealth above $1 billion, while real estate and part of retirement assets are not included in the tax base.
The official text of Proposition 40 ties the tax to California resident status on January 1, 2026. According to several U.S. media outlets, Brin left the state before that date; the Los Angeles Times wrote that he moved to Nevada specifically before the cutoff date, while the Financial Times noted that authorities could still examine the billionaire’s actual ties to California.
Fortune calculated that, at Brin’s current estimated net worth of nearly $260 billion, the possible payment would be about $13 billion if tax authorities consider him a state resident on the cutoff date. The Insider, citing California’s campaign finance database, reported that Brin’s total political donations in 2026 reached about $106 million, and the current $102 million for the anti-tax campaign is less than 0.8% of the potential amount.
Opponents of the initiative have raised more than $187 million, while supporters have raised about $32 million, and Brin became the largest individual donor on the opponents’ side. Voting on Proposition 40 is scheduled in California for November 3; according to the official description, 90% of the proceeds will go to healthcare, and 10% to food assistance, education, and tax administration. California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that the measure could bring the state budget tens of billions of dollars over several years. Brin compared the proposal to the Soviet system and said: “I fled socialism with my family in 1979 and know what a destructive, repressive society it created in the Soviet Union”. Brin was born in Moscow and moved with his family to the United States at the age of six.
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