There’s money to be made in California this spring, no startup pitch or buzzy screenplay required. Instead, signatures are one of the state’s most coveted commodities: campaigns are paying $15 apiece to those willing to collect them.
Petition distributors can thank Sergey Brin for this pay bump. In an effort to kill California’s proposed billionaire tax, the Google co-founder and other local tycoons are funding a political group that has hiked the going rate for signatures collected in support of countermeasures. In all, foes of the wealth tax are expected to spend $75m in their attempt to quash the proposal. Brin himself has donated $45m to the cause – a sum that suggests he just might be able to afford a higher tax bill.
