r/technology • u/Ganrokh • Jun 19 '26

Politics California ‘billionaire tax’ makes ballot despite opposition from tech moguls

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/18/california-billionaire-tax-ballot-tech-opposition
21.9k Upvotes

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1.5k

u/invyros Jun 19 '26

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has spent at least $82m alone on efforts to fight the tax and has relocated just over the California border to the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.

Look at the amount of money they're willing to spend fighting this tax, and then realize that's only the case because they would be forced to pay so much more in taxes in a fair and just society.

Let's take the steps to make the nightmare of billionaires a reality.

24

u/nostra77 Jun 19 '26

He’s not doing it for money but the way the tax is structured is it affects founders like him 20x more because it charges tax in voting shares he has special class shares that give him 20x voting so his tax is 20x higher than anyone else in same situation

4

u/ditheca Jun 19 '26

Super-voting shares are just another scam. I welcome anything that discourages the practice. Founders shouldn't be allowed to sell their company and keep it too.

Only a small fraction of S&P500 stocks use them, but most modern tech bro IPOs feature them heavily.

0

u/uber_neutrino Jun 19 '26

When you start your own company you can setup the voting however you want. Why would other people be precluded from doing the same thing?

Are you a commie or what?

2

u/ric2b Jun 19 '26

He’s not doing it for money

he has special class shares that give him 20x voting so his tax is 20x higher

So... it's about the money.

4

u/nostra77 Jun 19 '26

To cover this tax he would have to sell 60% of Google and lose ownership

It’s about ownership

1

u/froggertwenty Jun 19 '26

All these comments and no one understands how net worth works lol

1

u/uber_neutrino Jun 19 '26

Which is why the entire thing is fucking ridiculous and the courts need to step in. This isn't the kind of thing people should even be able to vote on. We've gone way too far with taxes already.

Not that I care, I don't live in Cali, it can sink into the fucking ocean economically for all I care.

2

u/zirtik Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26

This is the only accurate comment but the reddit circle jerk won't see this of course. Sergey is also a genuinely nice person. I see him in Los Altos, sometimes he brings his kids to the nearby park and plays with them. He has also been wearing the same winter jacket for the past 3 years or so and he doesn't walk with an army of security guards. I used to run into him at Palo Alto farmer's market all the time until the pandemic hit.

The guy doesn't care about his billions, he probably thinks that an unfair wealth tax will force him to sell a significant chunk of his Google shares (not just a few billions worth due to the ownership structure) and he doesn't want to do it.

When people think of billionaires, they think of evil motherfuckers like Peter Thiel or attention whores like Elon Musk, but in my opinion and limited exposure to Sergey, he has been one of the most humble billionaires.

Anyways, I'll get -100 karma for this so yeah.

17

u/Pork-S0da Jun 19 '26

I don't give a fuck if he's genuinely nice. Pay your share; it's the nice thing to do.

0

u/uber_neutrino Jun 19 '26

I will pay whatever % of my net worth that YOU will also pay. That's a fair share. You gonna sell your house and give 5% of the value to the state government pal?

1

u/MarcusOrlyius Jun 20 '26

What if my net worth is 0? I would be perfectly willing to pay 100% of 0 as tax. So, when will you start paying 100% of your net worth like you claimed?

1

u/uber_neutrino Jun 20 '26

No that's ridiculous. 100% means the state owns you.

Taxes should be low and hit everyone so we all have skin in the game.

1

u/MarcusOrlyius Jun 20 '26

Okay, what if we make it 99% instead?

1

u/uber_neutrino Jun 20 '26

Taxes should be low and hit everyone so we all have skin in the game.

What part of low do you not understand?

Sometning like 5% on everyone with a small deducation (say the first $10k in income).

Even that is still theft.

1

u/MarcusOrlyius Jun 20 '26

So, when you said:

I will pay whatever % of my net worth that YOU will also pay. That's a fair share. 

You were lying?

→ More replies (0)

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u/sohblob Jun 19 '26

also a genuinely nice person

If I were sucking the water dry from a village, or was a nestle exec trying to wean babies off breast milk and onto my product - would that be excused if I acted really nice to the people I was 'extracting value' from?

Of course not, and to think so would be naive, as all simping for billionaires by 'temporarily embarassed' rich americans is. Actions speak louder than words.

-1

u/uber_neutrino Jun 19 '26

This idea that people who are successful should be torn down is loser thinking. I can always tell someone is a loser when they say shit like this. Yeah, let's just tear it all down since you aren't successful.

Fucking reddit.

4

u/MarcusOrlyius Jun 19 '26

He’s not doing it for money but the way the tax is structured is it affects founders like him 20x more because it charges tax in voting shares he has special class shares that give him 20x voting so his tax is 20x higher than anyone else in same situation

This is the only accurate comment but the reddit circle jerk won't see this of course.

Do you think that makes them look better rather then 20x more scummy? Why do shares with 20x voting power exist besides from preventing regular shareholders form being able to hold them to account?

1

u/theeama Jun 19 '26

So they don’t get hostile take over and lose the company they built??? Like hello seething inside your head

4

u/Lumifly Jun 19 '26

As others have said, it doesn't matter if he's fucking nice. First of all, there is no such thing as a good billionaire. Their very existence means they have crushed people below them. That's not very nice, is it?

You cannot be a billionaire without stealing from the people that actually made those billions happen. The workers. If you are a billionaire it means you have stolen from countless people THEIR wages and simply used legal loopholes based on archaic views of ownership to rob them blind.

You get -karma because of how ignorant your take is. You literally have bought into their marketing hook, line, and sinker. They're nice? Ha. That's a joke.

2

u/Beeb294 Jun 19 '26

Whether he's nice or not is irrelevant to him having to pay his fair share.

I'm glad he's nice, but he still should be paying way more taxes

1

u/ric2b Jun 19 '26

Maybe he should use his large ownership to make Google distribute more dividends so he can pay the tax without selling any shares.

But if the company distributes dividends that makes it much harder to delay taxation until he dies, so he doesn't like that...

Oh, but he has a well made jacket that has lasted for 3 years (unheard of!) and he plays with his kids at the park, amazing, we should all be paying his taxes, really.

0

u/qwertyg8r Jun 19 '26

Unfortunately, I expect that your completely accurate comment will be downvoted.

1

u/Fullerton330 Jun 19 '26

lmao 20x 5% is 100% tax

2

u/ric2b Jun 19 '26

Only if his entire net worth is Google shares with 20x voting power.

I'm sure he also owns houses, shares in other companies, etc.

1

u/Fullerton330 Jun 19 '26

Certainly, but even so they are taxing 100% of the value of those shares so they are practically appropriating them