MW Big Tech hates California's billionaire tax - but loves taxpayers' money

By Paulina Borsook

Author of 'Cyberselfish' points out that Silicon Valley was built on government dollars - and now its elite want to pull up the ladder

Alphabet founders Larry Page, left, and Sergey Brin are leading opponents of California's proposed billionaire tax.

Alphabet $(GOOG)$ $(GOOGL)$ co-founder Sergey Brin recently went on record saying, "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." Sergey is referring to the "confiscation-for-the-people" proposed one-time billionaire tax in California.

As if California were to suddenly become akin to Enver Hoxha's Albania and Brin would be forced to take meals of beetroot and groats in the collective's cafeteria. To be fair, Brin left Moscow when he was quite young and really may not recall what it was like there - and how little resemblance Soviet Russia could ever have to California. But it's crucial to point out that if this tax is ever passed, Brin and his billionaire tech bros will still be wealthier than the majority of the world's population.

Why do Brin and California's tech billionaires fear the state's proposed billionaire tax? Why do they not understand or care how this tax would benefit their fellow citizens in California - and also themselves? Brin might look to Lake Tahoe, which is, for those who have never visited it, is another of California's freaks of natural beauty. This large and gorgeous alpine lake straddles California and Nevada. Residents of Nevada pay no state income tax. The exclusive lakeside community of Incline Village, Nev., is the location of one of Brin's residences, purchased for a reported $42 million.

Anything California does for Lake Tahoe will benefit residents on the Nevada side. When the wildfires come, who will step in but California's renowned firefighting agency, CalFire? And CalFire will call on mutual assistance from other firefighting agencies throughout the state, all paid for with tax dollars.

And how does Brin think Lake Tahoe retains its clear, deep blue water? Dreaded state bureaucrats (all kinds of environmental scientists doing their jobs) measure and regulate to keep Tahoe's water pure. Again, paid for with California state-tax dollars.

When errant, injured, or wildfire-hurt bears or mountain lions wander into Tahoe communities, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife rescues the animals and determines if they can be released back into the wild. Singed bear cubs don't have founder's stock and can't take advantage of LLMs; they have to rely on state workers - paid with California tax dollars.

Food labeled as organic in the state of California has to be registered with the California Department of Food and Agriculture and conform to principles of cultivation. California provided the model for U.S. Department of Agriculture organic labeling. And how are CDFA agents paid? Tax dollars from California's general fund.

Yet somehow these agents of the state are regarded by people in Brin's technolibertarian sect as being direct descendants of Stalin's henchman Lavrentiy Beria - rather than public servants who have critical jobs to do and deserve to be paid fairly for them.

The billionaires rage with fear, ignorance and impoverishment of spirit. Their imaginations seem to have been fed on solely on "Starship Troopers" and little else except maybe some Tolkien. Given that Silicon Valley has benefited more and suffered less from government than any other sector of society, where did these extreme libertarian beliefs come from?

This techno-libertarian subculture used to be just that: a subculture. I wrote about it in a book called "Cyberselfish," first published in May 2000. At that time, I found this subculture fascinating, peculiar, sometimes repulsive and sometimes silly. This odd mindset was there for other people observing Silicon Valley at the time to see - but no one seemed to notice, or at least not enough to speak out.

"Cyberselfish" was never intended as prophecy - but sadly it has turned out to be. What I didn't anticipate then was that with the rise of the "PayPal Mafia" and tech's domination of the global economy, these "I got mine, so screw you" values would hijack government and civil discourse.

While we're on the topic of Brin and Lake Tahoe, let me share another early anecdote that illuminates the mindset I'm referring to, and that I wrote about way back in 1999. At that time, I was a houseguest at a technolibertarian's lakeside home in Tahoe. He was complaining about how he was being prohibited from adding another story onto his place. I remarked that perhaps the regulations were in place because adding a story might block his neighbors' view; or maybe the construction might harm the soil, which might affect the lake's water quality.

He stared at me blankly. Protections for his neighbors or the environment clearly never crossed his mind. All he had considered was his reflexive hatred of regulation - regulations that promote well-being; taxes that help communities.

But for the tech elite, taxes, as Leona Helmsley famously put it, are for "the little people."

Never mind that no sector of society has benefited more from the U.S. government - our tax dollars - than Silicon Valley.

Paulina Borsook is the author of "Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp Through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech" (Tin House/Zando, June 2026).

More: California is one step closer to America's first billionaire tax. It shows how deep the divide between red and blue state taxes is now.

Plus: The California wealth tax has a loophole-here's how much billionaires could save

-Paulina Borsook

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 01, 2026 07:50 ET (11:50 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.