California voters have officially torpedoed a controversial, would-be historic wealth tax on billionaires.
Proposition 40 –– a measure that would have imposed a first-in-the-nation one time 5% tax on billionaires –– was rejected by Californians by 52.8% to 47.2% when the race was called by the Associated Press on Monday.
While the proposal was rejected in most counties across the Golden State, traditionally blue counties like Los Angeles and San Francisco saw many residents coming out in support of the bill.
San Francisco County and Los Angeles County saw 56.2% and 55% of its voters, respectively, in favor of Prop 40.
Millions of dollars were poured into opposing the proposal, including major spending from Google co-founder Sergey Brin, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel.
