Where $300 Million Against the Billionaire Tax Went: TV Ads, Signatures and Consultants

Opponents of Proposition 40, the one-time 5% tax on California billionaires' net worth, have spent more than $300 million. Two new analyses show where it came from and where it went.

Where it came from

Capital & Main found that through Oct. 20, Building a Better California had given $118.5 million to a committee opposing Prop. 40 and $186 million to support Props. 41 and 42, which could nullify the tax if they get more votes. About 96% of opposition money came from the group, which has raised more than $333 million, led by $102 million from Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Opponents have outraised supporters more than 9 to 1, and the fight accounts for nearly half of all ballot measure spending this cycle. SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, which wrote the measure, has put in nearly $32 million.

Where it went

According to the San Francisco Standard's review of filings:

• About $144 million on digital and TV ads, almost all to Pier 91 Media, affiliated with D.C. firm GMMB; about 86% of ad spending came in September and October.
• $99 million on signatures for Props. 41 and 42, mostly to Calabasas-based PCI Campaigns, at up to $15 per signature.
• At least $23 million on mailers, $22 million on consultants, $1.8 million on texts and more than $750,000 on polling.

"I've never seen anything like this in the 30 years I've been doing this," PCI CEO Angelo Paparella told the Standard. Santa Clara University's Davina Hurt asked whether the cost of using the initiative process "has become so high that only those with substantial financial resources can realistically be heard."