Google co-founder Sergey Brin has more than doubled his financial contribution to the fight against a proposed wealth tax in California, new filings show. The former Alphabet president donated an additional $25m to a Super Pac dedicated to blocking the tax, bringing his total to $45m.
Brin is not alone among Google’s top brass in upping his financial stake in the campaign against the ballot proposal. Former CEO Eric Schmidt donated $1.02m, adding to a previous $2m contribution. The California Billionaire Tax act would require any resident worth more than $1bn to pay a one-off, 5% tax on their assets to fund education, food assistance and healthcare programmes. It is sponsored by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West and is still in the signature-gathering phase.
If approved, the tax would apply to billionaires based on their residency as of 1 January 2026. For Brin, worth about $247bn, the bill would likely be upwards of $12bn. That stipulation appears to have caused him and several other billionaires to leave California at the end of last year. Brin relocated to a $42m estate on the north-eastern shore of Lake Tahoe in Nevada, and his Pac donations show Reno as his address. Schmidt’s filings show his address as West Hollywood.
The Super Pac, called Building a Better California, is also sponsoring a separate ballot measure called 'Protect Retirements' that would ban retroactive taxes, effectively kneecapping the billionaire tax. Spokesperson Abby Lunardini said the group is thankful for the billionaires’ support and focused on long-term policy reforms, adding: 'We believe in public investments in housing, infrastructure, and education, but also that Californians deserve more accountability and safeguards for their tax dollars.'
Brin has also contributed to the state’s gubernatorial campaigns of Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Matt Mahan. Schmidt has donated to another Super Pac fighting the tax, the California Business Roundtable, which has also received funds from Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel ($3m), Ring founder James Siminoff ($100,000) and crypto billionaire Chris Larsen ($750,000).
Brin has become increasingly involved in politics over the past two years, attending a White House dinner where Donald Trump called his girlfriend a 'really wonderful Maga girlfriend'. Brin’s former wife, Nicole Shanahan, was Robert F Kennedy Jr’s running mate in 2024. Schmidt declined to comment; Brin did not return a request for comment.
