Crypto billionaires Chris Larsen, Tim Draper launch $40M ‘counterforce’ to fight tax-happy unions

It’s billionaires vs. unions, and the gloves are off.

California crypto billionaires Chris Larsen and Tim Draper are pouring millions into a political group called Grow California that’s intended as a “counterforce” to fight powerful unions and elect moderates to the state Legislature, the New York Times reported.

“Whoever designed that wealth tax in the unions — wow,” Larsen told the paper, referring to the widely-panned 5% wealth tax on billionaires that infuriated the state’s wealthy tech set.

“They woke up the sleeping giant like I have never seen,” Larsen continued. “That’s maybe the blessing of this whole thing. Business has got to stop being apologetic for being business. It’s just so lame.”

Larsen joined forces with Draper, a venture capitalist and Bitcoin evangelist, to launch the Grow California political group with $40 million in commitments for independent expenditure committees and nonprofits affiliated with the effort, the Times said.

The group plans to spend big to elect business-friendly candidates for state offices and counteract powerful unions that often have the ear of California’s Democratic supermajority.

Democrats hold more than two-thirds of seats in the state Assembly and Legislature.

Larsen, an active political donor in San Francisco and national races, told the Times he plans to give around $30 million of his own money to Grow California.

“If it takes a couple of cycles, fine — that’s what we’re here for,” he added.

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Larsen isn’t the only California billionaire gearing up for a fight with the state’s political establishment.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin and former CEO Eric Schmidt have banded together with other wealthy moguls to form Building a Better California, according to Bloomberg.

Its key priority is to kill the proposed billionaire tax, which is bound for the November ballot if organizers SEIU–United Healthcare Workers West gather enough signatures.

Building a Better California has raised $35 million, including a $20 million donation from Brin, according to campaign filings cited by Bloomberg.

Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, blasted the billionaires behind Grow California as a voice for themselves.”

“We won’t be bullied, no matter how big the bully thinks he is,” she said.