r/technology • u/Logical_Welder3467 • 18d ago

Society Google cofounder Sergey Brin has spent $102 million to fight California’s proposed billionaire tax—he could owe $13 billion if he loses

https://fortune.com/article/how-much-has-google-cofounder-sergey-brin-spent-to-oppose-california-billionaire-tax-102-million-owe-13-billion-if-loses/
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u/GetThatAwayFromMe 17d ago

He has a net worth of about $260 billion. He wouldn’t even notice a difference in his life, not one, if he paid the $12 billion. There are between 900 and 1300 billionaires in the U.S.(depending on the list). 85 to 90 percent of those billionaires are worth less than $10 billion. He could give $12 billion dollars each to 20 people, putting them in the top 10 percent of billionaires, and still have $40 billion making him STILL one of the 25 richest people in the country.

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u/pirelliskrrting 17d ago

That there is not billionaire thinking

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u/GrouchyOskar 17d ago

They are really psychopathic aren’t they. Complete assholes. 

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u/BetweenTheRoots 17d ago

It's not that simple, net worth isn't what he actually has access to in liquid value. These people own assets and take loans out and use those loans to purchase things which inflates their net worth but fails to represent how substantially in debt they are. Not defending billionaires or anything but this topic isn't as simple as people pass it off as. We really gotta stop letting people take loans out with stock as collateral.

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u/DanceWithEverything 17d ago

They only do all that crap to avoid taxes in the first place

This is just backpay

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u/BetweenTheRoots 17d ago

That's just a benefit of it, but not why they do it.

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u/DanceWithEverything 17d ago

Yes, they also maintain control of the equity while they get the money

In addition to this wealth tax, they should have to prepay income tax on all assets used to secure their loans (or eliminate the loans altogether)

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u/Outers55 17d ago

It doesn't really matter as they can leverage that imagined worth to live that lifestyle because of the liquidity banks offer in bankrolling their day-to-day needs.

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u/BetweenTheRoots 17d ago

I mean it does matter when we're talking taxable income. I get that it's bullshit all together. Like I said, we gotta stop letting people take out loans on unrealized gains.

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u/MildMannered_BearJew 17d ago

That's not how net worth works. If they have debts then they would deduct that from their net worth. This is part of their net worth figure.

Also, to pay this tax, Brin doesn't need to liquidate $13B at once. He can spread it over 4 years if he wants to.

Now let's do some math to figure out how much trading volume that would be relative to the normal amount of trading that happens on Alphabet stock. The answer is 0.08%.

This is functionally nothing. Brin selling will have no measurable impact on Google stock whatsoever

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u/Busy-Ratchet-8521 17d ago

Net worth does not mean he has that much in cash. He probably doesn't have 12 billion in cash.

A lot of his worth his related to his ownership of Alphabet Inc. He'd have to sell things to pay this tax debt. 

I'm not saying he shouldn't do that. I'm just saying he isn't walking around with 200 billion in his bank account. 

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u/JamesLahey 17d ago

IIRC he would have to sell an amount of his preferred Alphabet stock to pay the tax. Those shares have like 1000x the voting share as the common stock. I have heard this is why he is fighting it so hard, he would have to sell enough of his preferred stock he would lose a lot of control in Alphabet.

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u/DanceWithEverything 17d ago

All the more reason to push for it, democratize one of the most powerful companies in the world

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u/Busy-Ratchet-8521 17d ago

Lol, what? It wouldn't democratise it. It would just shift the ownership to another billionaire.

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u/HotwheelsSisyphus 17d ago

I think the real metric is if his lifestyle will change.

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u/sirploko 17d ago

Your math is not mathing.

20 * 12 = 240.

260 - 240 = 20.

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u/spazz720 17d ago

Net worth does not equal cash on hand.

Must of these billionaires are billionaires because of their asset valuation.

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u/LiterallyZeroChance 17d ago

He has a net worth of about $260 billion. He wouldn’t even notice a difference in his life, not one

Guess what? That's not up for you or me to decide.

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u/AnalBloodTsunami 17d ago

Well if you’re a voter in California it is. They’ve chosen to elect people who have proposed this tax..

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u/LiterallyZeroChance 17d ago

Well if you’re a voter in California it is. They’ve chosen to elect people who have proposed this tax..

And when the proposal fails (and it will), my point will stand.

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u/Due-Train-7874 17d ago

Literally how democracy works.

Does your username refer to your ability to understand basic concepts?

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u/DanceWithEverything 17d ago

It literally is. We live in a democracy with a tax system