Californias controversial billionaire tax looks headed for defeat

California’s bitterly contested billionaire tax appeared to be heading for defeat Tuesday night after a vicious campaign that split Democrats, sent Silicon Valley tycoons scrambling to leave the state and sparked a $330 million-plus war to kill the proposal.Proposition 40, which would slap a one-time 5% tax on billionaires’ wealth, was trailing by 56% to 44% with roughly half the ballots counted shortly after 9 p.m.The measure was among the most fiercely contested of the 14 propositions on California’s ballot, pitting powerful labor unions and lefty Democrats against some of the world’s richest tech entrepreneurs.Google co-founder Sergey Brin emerged as the biggest name in the billionaire backlash, pouring more than $100 million into efforts to defeat the tax.The Soviet-born tech titan even invoked his family’s escape from communism in a rare public statement attacking the proposal.“I fled socialism with my family in 1979 and know the devastating, oppressive society it created in the Soviet Union.I don’t want California to end up in the same place,” Brin said.Brin helped bankroll Building a Better California, the political committee behind two rival ballot measures designed to kill the billionaire tax even if voters approved it.Proposition 41 would tighten rules on certain new state taxes and require audits of programs they fund, while Proposition 42 would prohibit new state taxes on personal property, including financial assets, and certain retroactive taxes.Either measure could invalidate Prop.

40 if approved with more votes than the billionaire tax.Shortly after 9 p.m., Prop.41 was narrowly trailing, while Prop.

42 was ahead by nine points and had attracted more “yes” votes than the billionaire tax.The tax battle also exposed deep divisions within California’s Democratic establishment.Gov.Gavin Newsom and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra opposed the proposal, warning it could drive wealthy entrepreneurs, their businesses ...