California has finally passed a tax that raises record money. Unfortunately, the money all went to television stations, and the tax hasn't passed.
Proposition 40, on Tuesday's ballot, would charge a one-time 5 percent tax on the net worth of roughly 200 billionaires who lived in California on January 1, 2026. Ninety percent of the proceeds would go to public health care. Supporters say it would help cover a $100 billion hole left by federal health care cuts.
The billionaires have responded the way billionaires respond to everything. They bought it.
Let's do the math, since that's what I'm here for.
Building a Better California, the main committee fighting the tax, has raised more than $333 million, according to a Capital & Main analysis of state filings. Through October 20, it had spent more than $304 million across three ballot measures. The Washington Post found the opposition has outspent supporters on advertising by more than 250 to 1.
Two hundred and fifty to one. That's not a campaign. That's a hostage situation with a jingle.
The biggest single check came from Google co-founder Sergey Brin: $102 million. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt kicked in about $40 million. Venture capitalist John Doerr, $40 million. Stripe CEO Patrick Collison, about $33 million. POLITICO counted a record $612 million from more than 70 current and former California billionaires pouring into this year's state elections, nearly half of it aimed at sinking Prop 40.
Now here's my favorite number. Brin listed his residency on campaign filings as Reno, Nevada, Palo Alto Online reported. Capital & Main says he reportedly moved to Nevada last year to avoid the tax.
Read that again. Sacramento's big billionaire tax chased off its biggest billionaire before it collected one dime, and he's still spending $102 million to fight it from Nevada. That's the California economy in one sentence. The state writes the bill, the taxpayer moves, and the moving truck sends a thank-you card to the Legislature.
Even the state's own Legislative Analyst saw it coming. The official analysis expects tens of billions in temporary revenue, "hard to predict," plus a possible ongoing loss of less than $1 billion a year in income-tax revenue as taxpayers respond. Translation: the people being taxed have legs, and many of them have jets.
The opposition got creative, too. Building a Better California sent $103.5 million to a No on 40 committee and more than $170 million to committees backing Propositions 41 and 42, which could cancel Prop 40 if they get more votes. It's a three-measure shell game. Vote no on one, yes on two others, and somewhere a consultant buys a boat.
And my personal favorite: the No on 40 committee's official name is "Doctors, Teachers, Small Businesses, Working Families and Public Safety Against the Reckless Wealth Tax Experiment." The money, according to Palo Alto Online, came overwhelmingly from billionaires. That's like naming your yacht "The Humble Canoe."
So who wins? Not the patients. Not the billionaires, who just spent nine figures. Not Sacramento Democrats, who designed a tax so scary it's already driving its targets to Nevada.
The winners are the TV stations, the mailer printers and every consultant in Los Angeles with a pulse.
California finally found a tax that collects hundreds of millions overnight. Too bad every dollar went to fighting it.
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The Demorat is a satire publication. This article is parody and commentary based on real news reports; jokes, exaggerations and fictional elements are not factual claims. Quotes attributed to real people are drawn from published reporting.
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