Google co-founder Sergey Brin has now spent $100 million to fight the billionaire tax

谷歌联合创始人谢尔盖·布林已斥资 1 亿美元对抗“亿万富翁税”

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has donated another $20 million to Build a Better California, an organization advocating against California’s proposed billionaire tax, according to a new filing. That means that the world’s fourth-richest man, whose net worth hovers around $267 billion, has now spent more than $100 million to avoid an estimated $13.3 billion tax payment. 根据一份新的备案文件显示，谷歌联合创始人谢尔盖·布林（Sergey Brin）又向“建设更美好的加州”（Build a Better California）组织捐赠了 2000 万美元，该组织旨在反对加州拟议的“亿万富翁税”。这意味着这位全球第四大富豪（其净资产约为 2670 亿美元）目前已斥资超过 1 亿美元，以规避估计高达 133 亿美元的税款。

California’s Prop 40, known as the billionaire tax, would impose a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of around 200 billionaires that live in the state. The windfall from this proposed tax would mostly go toward funding California’s healthcare programs. The state’s Medicaid program alone could lose up to $30 billion in federal funding once Trump’s budget cuts take effect next year. 加州的第 40 号提案（Prop 40），即所谓的“亿万富翁税”，将对居住在该州的约 200 位亿万富翁的净资产征收一次性 5% 的税。这项拟议税收带来的意外之财将主要用于资助加州的医疗保健项目。一旦特朗普的预算削减计划于明年生效，仅加州的医疗补助计划（Medicaid）就可能损失高达 300 亿美元的联邦资金。

Brin isn’t the only tech mogul seeking ways to avoid such a tax. It’s no coincidence that Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg reportedly bought a $170 million mansion near Miami this year. Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, and Brin’s fellow Google co-founder Larry Page have also left the state. 布林并不是唯一寻求规避此类税收的科技大亨。Meta 创始人马克·扎克伯格（Mark Zuckerberg）今年据报道在迈阿密附近购买了一座价值 1.7 亿美元的豪宅，这绝非巧合。前 Uber 首席执行官特拉维斯·卡兰尼克（Travis Kalanick）、风险投资家彼得·蒂尔（Peter Thiel）以及布林的谷歌联合创始人拉里·佩奇（Larry Page）也都已经离开了加州。

Prop 40 has also generated dissent from Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA), who is concerned about the economic impact of these billionaires and their businesses fleeing California. Instead, Newsom has called for a “national billionaires’ tax.” 第 40 号提案也引起了加州州长加文·纽森（Gavin Newsom）的反对，他担心这些亿万富翁及其企业逃离加州会带来经济影响。相反，纽森呼吁征收“全国性亿万富翁税”。

“Today, the office worker can shoulder a higher tax rate than the heiress,” Newsom noted in the blog post. “We should end the ‘tax-free lifestyle loan,’ the gimmick that lets the ultra-wealthy borrow against their stock portfolios while reporting no taxable income.” “如今，办公室职员承担的税率可能比女继承人还要高，”纽森在博客文章中指出。“我们应该终结‘免税生活贷款’，这种伎俩让超级富豪能够以股票投资组合为抵押进行借贷，同时却无需申报任何应纳税收入。”

Californians will vote on Prop 40 in November. The organization that Brin is funding has proposed opposing ballot measures that, if passed, could effectively block Prop 40 by limiting the introduction of new taxes. 加州选民将在 11 月对第 40 号提案进行投票。布林资助的组织已经提出了反对该提案的投票措施，如果获得通过，这些措施可能会通过限制新税种的引入，从而有效地阻碍第 40 号提案的实施。

Meanwhile, Nvidia co-founder and unlikely working class hero Jensen Huang says he’s “perfectly fine” paying the tax. “I have not even thought about it once,” Huang, who would owe around $8 billion in taxes, said in a January interview with Bloomberg. “We chose to live in Silicon Valley, and whatever taxes they would like to apply, so be it. I’m perfectly fine with it.” 与此同时，英伟达联合创始人、这位意想不到的“工人阶级英雄”黄仁勋（Jensen Huang）表示，他“完全乐意”缴纳这笔税款。在 1 月份接受彭博社采访时，黄仁勋表示：“我甚至一次都没有考虑过这个问题。我们需要缴纳大约 80 亿美元的税款。我们选择住在硅谷，无论他们想征收什么税，那就征收吧。我完全没问题。”