Billionaire Tax Initiative and Tech Giants' Acquisitions Highlight Wealth Tax Debate
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Healthcare workers and other supporters with the Billionaire Tax Now coalition hold placards during a media briefing in Los Angeles on Monday, April 27, 2026. The initiative would levy a one-time 5% tax on California billionaires. (AFP) AFP via Getty Images
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Common DreamsIf passed, revenue from the 5% billionaire wealth tax would be used to offset federal Medicaid cuts and bolster the state's education system. The proposal will be on California's November ballot as Proposition 40, and the two billionaire-backed initiatives are Propositions 41 and 42.
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Brin is not the only billionaire financing efforts to defeat the proposed wealth tax in California, which is home to more billionaires than any other US state. Ripple Labs co-founder Chris Larsen, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, and venture capitalist Ron Conway have also spent against the ballot initiative.
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Financial TimesCalifornia billionaires add millions to bolster fight against wealth tax Tech owner Chris Larsen and venture capitalist John Doerr step up efforts to kill proposed 5% levy on the rich
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Elon Musk has never been shy about his ambition. The trillionaire SpaceX SPCX and Tesla TSLA CEO’s latest project, Terafab, aims to be the largest building on the planet—a semiconductor fabrication center that Musk describes as “a chip factory built for Earth and orbit.” But neighbors of the project in Grimes County, Texas, are not happy about it.
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FortuneMusk, Tesla CEO and the richest person on the planet, has single-handedly been one of the most influential leaders in pushing for 21st-century space accessibility. After all, he’s the cofounder and CEO of $1.8 trillion SpaceX, which has worked hand in hand with NASA to advance space exploration. He thinks humans will be on Mars as soon as 2028—but it’s worth noting his past predictions haven’t always hit the mark. In 2016, Musk said he wanted to send humans to Mars by 2024, but it didn’t happen.
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Bob Iger and Josh Kushner are leading the group buying the Los Angeles Lakers from Mark Walter in a record $12.5 billion deal. JASON SZENES/ NY POST
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FortuneThrive Capital founder Joshua Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger stunned the sports world this week with a deal to buy the Los Angeles Lakers for a record $12.5 billion.
RealClearMarketsThe deal for the Los Angeles Lakers valued the team at a record $12.5 billion, eclipsing the $10 billion paid for the franchise just last year. Read Full Article »
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01 Common Dreams 5 #000000 #FFFFFF Google co-founder Sergey Brin, one of the richest men in the world, has spent more than $100 million backing a group seeking to stop a popular California ballot initiative that would impose a one-time tax on the wealth of the state's billionaires.
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02 MarketWatch By July 30, when the fund was forced to negotiate a bailout deal with Citadel, shares in the two semiconductor plays had plunged — Sandisk had collapsed 43% and Micron 24%.
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03 Financial Times The new AI super-rich are reshaping the market for jets, yachts and cars Those making fortunes in Silicon Valley are ditching the champagne for premium water while splashing their bitcoin
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04 Fortune Some of the world’s most powerful tech billionaires think your next job posting could come from another planet. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Sam Altman have all predicted a future where humans live and work in space. Now, Voyager Technologies founder and CEO Dylan Taylor is backing them up—and he’s putting a very soon timeline on it.
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05 New York Post Business Far-left progressives are trying to rally up support for California’s controversial one-time 5% tax on billionaires that’s up on the November ballot — but famed businessman Mark Cuban on Saturday delivered a brutal assessment to one of the tax’s biggest supporters.
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