California's billionaire tax fails, but other 'tax the rich' measures succeeded around the country

California's proposed billionaire tax went down to defeat, one of the final verdicts from voters in an election that saw a wave of anti-billionaire sentiment elsewhere.

The official call from the Associated Press came nearly a week after election day at 9:28 p.m. ET on Monday and showed California's Proposition 40 down by over 5 percentage points with 83% of the votes counted.

The referendum to amend California's constitution would have imposed a one-time 5% tax on California residents and trusts with assets over $1 billion on Jan. 1, 2026. Some assets, such as real property and certain retirement accounts and pensions, were excluded.

The measure was estimated to impact about 200 billionaires in the state. It faced fierce opposition from many in Big Tech and lost steam with voters as Election Day neared.

Google ( GOOG , GOOGL ) co-founder Sergey Brin was one of the most vocal opponents. He contributed a reported $102 million to a political committee to fight the measure.

Other billionaires made detailed plans in case it passed. Meta ( META ) CEO Mark Zuckerberg told his board, according to a New York Times report, that they needed to take steps to shield him from the tax or he would publicly list his home in Palo Alto for sale.

The measure was also opposed by some Democrats, who argued it wouldn't work.

Outgoing California Gov. Gavin Newsom emerged as an opponent, arguing that billionaires would both dodge the tax and leave the state. He cited a report from the California Legislative Analyst's Office that estimated the measure might temporarily boost state revenues but could be an overall drag on regular income taxes and "would reduce state revenues by less than $1 billion per year."

California voters also weighed competing measures: Proposition 41 and Proposition 42 , which were introduced by opponents of Proposition 40 to prevent the wealth tax from taking effect.

Proposition 42 would prohibit taxes on personal savings, assets, and retirement holdings and that measure was ahead on Tuesday with 83% of the votes cast but not yet officially called.

Proposition 41, which aimed to make it harder to pass new special taxes, was defeated.

But proponents of taxes on the rich did have a victory elsewhere on California's ballot.

The state's voters approved Proposition 3, which made permanent higher tax rates on incomes starting at $250,000 in a separate measure that solidified rates first approved in 2012 to fund education.