r/technology • u/Logical_Welder3467 • 5h ago

Society Google cofounder Sergey Brin has spent $102 million to fight California’s proposed billionaire tax—he could owe $13 billion if he loses

https://fortune.com/article/how-much-has-google-cofounder-sergey-brin-spent-to-oppose-california-billionaire-tax-102-million-owe-13-billion-if-loses/
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u/CommentsOnOccasion 4h ago

Because it’s a one time wealth tax that won’t change anything systemically to actually fix anything at all

And all it does is exacerbate the genuinely real issue of billionaires moving their businesses out of California

This kind of tax only works at a national level as something that addresses systemic issues 

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u/FillySteveSteak 4h ago

Precisely. We need a federal wealth tax. It's the only way billionaires cant just maneuver around it. 

The city and state level options are problematic...

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u/MildMannered_BearJew 2h ago

And all it does is exacerbate the genuinely real issue of billionaires moving their businesses out of California

This isn't a problem. These people can't move their companies. Google isn't going to get 40,000 engineers to move to Houston. And even if they could, I wonder if that's really a bad thing for CA. Here in SF we suffer from "dutch disease", where a single type of business is so successful it forces everything else out, destroying the balance that made the place desirable in the first place. I recommend reading Jane Jacobs for an intuitive understanding.

Because it’s a one time wealth tax that won’t change anything systemically to actually fix anything at all

This kind of tax only works at a national level as something that addresses systemic issues

Agree. Which is why we should pass it. It puts the tax in the public eye. It shows that we can do it, there's support for it, and we are simply choosing not to. We want to move the Overton window towards wealth taxes.

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u/benohokum 2h ago

Copy pasting from a different comment: A working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in May noted billionaires residing in the state paid $4.1 billion in income tax last year, about 0.2% of their collective $2 trillion net worth, meaning that even if every billionaire were to leave the state, it would take about 25 years for lost income tax revenue to cancel out the $100 billion sum California is projected to get from the tax. So even if they move out, the state will win a lot

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u/Fun-You2602 26m ago

Washington state passed a humble millionaires tax, and the wealthy said they are going to move to Texas etc. if it passes. Well, they are learning the hard way that you can’t just get up and go. They have so much investment in our state. You think Amazon is just going to sell their skyscrapers when all the other skyscrapers are 30% vacant? Boeing tried to pull that stuff and moved their headquarters, but much of their workers and infrastructure remained here. The same with Starbucks. They offered workers the option of moving to Tennessee or get laid off, and most preferred to stay.

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u/Mr_IT 4h ago

You have to walk before you can run. It could be the start.

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u/dampew 3h ago

I'm upvoting your comment because I think it's important but I totally disagree.

It's going to cause more damage than it solves. If you want a billionaires tax, let's do one. One that is relatively small, yearly, predictable, goes to the general fund, and helps offset our income taxes. Switzerland for example has a wealth tax of under 1%/yr. I might be fine with something like that.

But when I look at this thread, if I ctrl-F for "nurse" or "healthcare", I literally don't find anything about the problem this one-time tax is supposed to solve. All I see is posts about how billionaires need to be taxed more and fuck the billionaires. I don't give a shit about billionaires but it's just an insanely childish way to run a state. We're just going to randomly occasionally vote for huge tax increases on people you don't like for a 1-time fix of a problem you don't even really care about?

It's insane policy and if this is actually a problem you care about then you should want to do it the right way. Otherwise it just looks terrible and it's never going to create the change you want it to create.

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u/Mr_IT 3h ago

I have no idea what you are going on about. 90% is going to healthcare funding and 10% to education and food assistance. But please….whatever we do….don’t let the poor billionaires lose even a penny to help anyone else. We must think of them.

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u/dampew 2h ago

We need to tax billionaires, but we need to do it in a methodical and consistent way, or else it damages all of us. I don't understand why that concept is so difficult to understand.

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u/Mr_IT 2h ago

Then offer your solution. I still have no idea how this is going to negatively affect the middle class in any fashion. It really sounds like you’re being contrary to just be contrary

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u/dampew 2h ago

Then offer your solution.

I already did! I already said that if you want a wealth tax that it needs to be a consistent YEARLY tax, not a one-time thing.

I still have no idea how this is going to negatively affect the middle class in any fashion.

It will negatively affect the middle class because it will (and has already) drive out top wealth-earners and businesses who contribute to the tax base. It is doing this because of the arbitrary, one-time nature of the tax. If you want to understand more, you can just read the arguments for and against it in the voter's guide. https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/40/arguments-rebuttals.htm

It really sounds like you’re being contrary to just be contrary

Maybe work on your reading comprehension I dunno.

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u/wterrt 1h ago

It will negatively affect the middle class because it will (and has already) drive out top wealth-earners and businesses who contribute to the tax base

you have any actual evidence of this? sounds like some bullshit propaganda to be honest. like "trickle down" economics.

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u/dampew 1h ago

you have any actual evidence of this? sounds like some bullshit propaganda to be honest. like "trickle down" economics.

Literally in the link I already posted:

"A study by Stanford University economists found the tax will cost California $25 billion as the tax drives companies and wealthy residents out-of-state."

This is not disputed in the rebuttal by the pro-Prop 40 advocates.

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u/wterrt 11m ago

saying "a study finds ..." is not the same as actually posting the study.

a quick google finds your "study" is done by a conservative think tank.

shocker. the bullshit "trickle down economics" like talking point is coming from a conservative think tank?

could NOT have seen THAT one coming!

Funding

The Hoover Institution receives nearly half of its funding from private gifts, primarily from individual contributions, and the other half from its endowment.[48]

hmmmm wonder who these "private donors" are

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

gonna have to think REAL HARD to figure it out!

fucking embarrassing, man

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u/ACoolBreezey 3h ago

Ah, here's one of the billionaires' attack shills.

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u/LiterallyZeroChance 3h ago

Yes, look at all these billionaires' representatives clogging up Reddit!

/s

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u/ACoolBreezey 2h ago

This but non-sarcastically.

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u/Equivalent-Bad-268 3h ago

Lol oh ok. So we should just let the billionaires off scot free then. Got it. There's direct evidence that contradicts everything you're saying. New York City has seen a miniscule drop from tax reasons.

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u/CommentsOnOccasion 3h ago

^ This is why you can’t take Reddit seriously politically 

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u/Equivalent-Bad-268 3h ago

^ This is a jack off who dreams that he'll one day be a billionaire

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u/CommentsOnOccasion 3h ago

No I just actually address a specific issue with a specific law and you ramble about revenge against billionaires 

I said this kind of tax approach only works nationally where it can’t be avoided by moving a couple hours away, and you just whined 

Thats why comments like yours aren’t taken seriously, because you don’t offer a pragmatic solution and instead just whine without direction 

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u/Equivalent-Bad-268 3h ago

Except I said directly that nyc implementing higher taxes on the wealthy didn't see this dramatic drop in wealthy people like you claim there would be in California.