Overview
- Google co-founder Sergey Brin told Gov. Gavin Newsom at a private Christmas treehouse party that he would leave the state over a proposed 5% tax on billionaires, according to Bloomberg’s reporting cited by multiple outlets.
- Brin has since relocated to Nevada and bought a lakeside home, moving his residence out of reach of the proposed California levy.
- He has poured tens of millions into defeating the measure, including at least $45 million to the group Building A Better California and about $57–58 million in total this year, according to campaign finance figures reported by Bloomberg.
- In a rare statement to the New York Times, Brin invoked his family’s Soviet-era experience to criticize the tax, while Newsom, who opposes the measure, said it will be defeated.
- The union-sponsored initiative, promoted as funding for healthcare and education, has qualified for the November ballot after organizers submitted 1.6 million signatures, according to recent coverage.