Billionaire Sergey Brin is building political infrastructure that will last beyond his $102 million fight against Prop 40

Google cofounder Sergey Brin spent much of his career on the sidelines of electoral politics. But a proposed California wealth tax has turned the billionaire into one of the state’s most powerful political financiers, prompting him to build an organization that can continue shaping state policy long after voters decide on the measure that initially mobilized him. Brin has contributed $102 million to Building a Better California, a political organization that has become the central vehicle for Silicon Valley billionaires seeking to influence California’s political direction. The group has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from wealthy tech executives, venture capitalists, and business leaders—channeling money into ballot measures that extend beyond the immediate fight against Proposition 40 . Through Oct. 20, Building a Better California has spent more than $304 million supporting efforts to defeat Proposition 40 and advance Propositions 41 and 42—direct counters to the wealth tax. Of that amount, approximately $118.5 million went toward opposing Proposition 40, while the other $186 million supported Propositions 41 and 42, according to Capital & Main . Proposition 41 would bar the state from exempting new taxes from its spending limit and require state audits of programs funded by new special taxes, making it harder for the state to use funds raised by the billionaire tax. Proposition 42 would outlaw retroactive taxation, directly countering Proposition 40. Building a Better California also endorsed Propositions 1, 3, 37, 41, and 42, according to its policy platform. In an interview with the New York Times in April, he compared the proposal to the socialism he experienced growing up in the Soviet Union—saying he did not want California to end up in the same place.