California’s Billionaire Tax Faces a Precarious Road Amid Opposition from the Wealthy

California voters will decide on November 3 whether to impose a one-time 5 percent tax on the assets of the state’s billionaires. Opponents, including Sergey Brin, Tony Xu, Patrick Collison, Chris Larsen, John Doerr, Michael Moritz and Vinod Khosla, have donated more than $300 million to defeat the measure, while supporters have raised $32 million. Political science professor David McCuan says the spending has made it the most expensive ballot measure ever. Brian Galle, a UC Berkeley economics professor who helped write the proposal, says anti-tax flyers have misrepresented it, including claims that it could apply to anyone and to retirement savings.