{"id":373832,"date":"2026-06-25T01:32:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T01:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/373832\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T01:32:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T01:32:01","slug":"sergey-brins-billionaire-tax-killing-measure-qualifies-for-california-ballot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/373832\/","title":{"rendered":"Sergey Brin’s billionaire tax-killing measure qualifies for California ballot"},"content":{"rendered":"

California\u2019s proposed billionaire tax<\/a> may be qualified to appear on the ballot this November, but should it get placed, it will have competition with another initiative that if passed would render the tax moot.<\/p>\n

A measure to \u201crequire audits of programs funded by new state special taxes\u201d qualified for the ballot, the California Secretary of State announced late Tuesday, with more than 962,000 signatures<\/a> and will be certified June 25th unless withdrawn.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first to qualify of the multiple ballot proposals backed by Building A Better California, a group where Google co-founder Sergey Brin and other Bay Area tycoons have poured <\/a>tens of millions of dollars into to fight the billionaire tax.<\/p>\n

Google co-founder Sergey Brin and other Bay Area tycoons have poured tens of millions of dollars into to fight the billionaire tax. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Post reached out to the group for comment on its qualification.<\/p>\n

The controversial billionaire tax is championed by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW)<\/a> and would levy a one-time 5% tax on the state\u2019s ultra-rich whose assets exceed $1 billion. The goal, supporters say, is to make up for federal healthcare cuts.<\/p>\n

Aerial views of the $50 million clifftop property recently purchased by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. New York Post<\/p>\n

But such a tax has incensed wealthy Californians and others like Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who argue it would hurt the state\u2019s economy in the long run after billionaires flee the state.<\/p>\n

The auditing proposal, among others, are attempts by Brin and opponents to essentially \u201cspoil\u201d or undermine the billionaire tax should it pass. The newly qualified measure<\/a> would increase audits of new taxpayer-funded programs and includes a provision that would essentially invalidate or bring legal scrutiny to the proposed billionaire tax.<\/p>\n

Supporters hold signs advocating for the Billionaire Tax Now coalition. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a clever strategy if you\u2019ve got lots of money,\u201d Shaun Bowler, a political science professor at UC Riverside, told Governing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still everything can be changed by June 25. Both the tax proposal and competing initiatives could still be withdrawn before June 25 if Newsom succeeds in negotiating a compromise.<\/p>\n

So far, there hasn\u2019t been much progress, at least publicly. Supporters of the billionaire tax recently offered Newsom the option of a 2% tax enacted through legislation instead, but\u00a0the governor swiftly declined<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor supports making the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share, but this poorly designed state-only measure will defund teachers, schools, clinics, and public safety,\u201d his office said.<\/p>\n

If the billionaire tax proposal reaches voters, analysts expect an expensive election fight.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California\u2019s proposed billionaire tax may be qualified to appear on the ballot this November, but should it get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9329,387,7,9,8,14624,86842,13,36511,1694],"class_list":["post-373832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-billionaires","tag-business","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-google","tag-midterm-elections-2026","tag-politics","tag-sergey-brin","tag-taxes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}