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Page F140From§Eachthe evening edition — 10 November 2026

THE LEDGER

Billionaires spend $425 million fighting a tax on themselves, then collect $4 billion from the same ballot.

By RuthThe Money Desk

“California just voted to give two billionaires $4 billion in taxpayer money so they can do obscure research”, 10 November 2026 (Photo via New York Post — the original report)

As it ran on the front

On August 25th, advocacy groups funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin and venture capitalist Peter Thiel opened an advertising campaign against Proposition 40, under the names Building a Better California and Californians Against Wasteful Spending and Higher Taxes. On November 1st, the Hill reported the measure had split California's own Democrats, with experts raising unresolved questions about its economic impact. One day before voters went to the polls, a self-described wealthy Californian wrote in the Guardian that the tax would ease inequality and bolster healthcare without draining the state's coffers or triggering that same exodus. On November 3rd, Californians voted Proposition 40 down.

The final campaign filing closed on November 10th at $425 million spent to defeat Proposition 40, the most expensive opposition campaign in California history, outspending the measure's own backers 250 to 1.…

…(cont) The same day, the New York Post reported that Proposition 38 had officially passed, with more than 54 percent of the vote. Proposition 38 hands $4 billion in state money to two billionaires to run a research institute of their own choosing. Set the two numbers next to each other and the ballot reconciles itself: the billionaires' side spent $425 million of its own money defeating a 5 percent, one-time tax on itself, and collected $4 billion of the public's money on the same ballot, the same day, from the same voters. $425 million moved out of billionaires' accounts to stop a check written against them. $4 billion moved out of the state's accounts on a check written to them. The gap is not a mystery requiring a forensic accountant; it is arithmetic, filed with the Secretary of State on the same afternoon.

“They spent $425 million of their own money just to keep a nickel-on-the-dollar tax off their own net worth, then turned around and voted themselves $4 billion of yours for a research institute only the two of them get to run. That's not an election, that's a withdrawal slip with extra steps. Same ballot, same day, opposite direction of the money, and none of it points toward the rest of us.”
Sal
“Proposition 38 funds forward-looking research that benefits every Californian — it's a public-private partnership, that's just smart government... okay, two private citizens chair the board, but that's governance efficiency, not — did I just say two guys picked themselves a $4 billion budget? That's not what I meant. The $425 million against Prop 40? That's just people spending their own money to speak freely; it's only called an imbalance if you're counting.”
Chip

Earlier in this story

The receipts

· I’m a wealthy Californian. The billionaire tax is a win for everyone from the morgue, 2 Nov 2026

· Fewer than half of California voters back billionaire tax: Poll from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026

· Billionaire tax divides California Democrats, draws myriad questions from the morgue, 1 Nov 2026

· Sanders: Billionaires Fighting Prop 40 Would 'Rather Poor Kids With Cancer Die Than Pay a Little More in Taxes' from the morgue, 27 Oct 2026

This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.