Paid post: Yes on 40 campaign names four billionaires, cites Epstein files

This is a paid political post. The committee Tax the Ultra-Rich Now, Yes on 3 & 40, No on 41 & 42 paid Juice Unlocked in connection with the post, which ran on Oct. 11. The text below restates the campaign's claims and attributes them to the campaign.

According to the campaign, four billionaires named in the Jeffrey Epstein files want Californians to vote no on Proposition 40. The carousel names Google co-founder Sergey Brin, investor Yuri Milner, Peter Thiel and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

What the campaign says

The campaign's slides say Brin has put $102 million into defeating Prop 40 and Thiel gave $3 million to a PAC fighting it. They say Milner would keep about $435 million and Zuckerberg about $12 billion if the measure fails. The slides cite net-worth figures from Forbes.

Each slide pairs a billionaire with an excerpt the campaign says comes from the Epstein files, crediting NBC News, the Daily Beast, the SF Standard and others. The Thiel slide notes his spokesperson says he never went to Epstein's island. The Zuckerberg slide says Meta describes a single, passing meeting with Epstein. The campaign's own fine print says none of the four men has been accused of a crime related to Epstein.

The final slide says about 225 billionaires would pay 5% once and that California would get an estimated $100 billion, figures it labels as the supporters' estimate. KQED put the number of people the tax would apply to at about 200.

About Prop 40

KQED reported that Prop 40 is a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of people who lived in California as of Jan. 1 and held more than $1 billion in assets. The healthcare workers union SEIU-UHW West placed it on the ballot, and most of the money would go toward replacing federal healthcare cuts, the AP reported. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Teachers Association and Planned Parenthood backed the no side.

KQED reported the opposition campaign raised more than $330 million, with Brin alone giving more than $100 million, while the yes side raised about $33 million. Props 41 and 42 would block the tax if at least one passes with more yes votes than Prop 40, the AP reported.

What’s next

Election Day was Nov. 3. The AP said Nov. 4 that the Prop 40 race was too early to call, with almost 6 million votes yet to be counted, and that the no side led in Orange County. Prop 40 was trailing in early returns, KQED reported. Props 41 and 42 could still block it even if it gets a majority.