California's Wealth Tax Is Now on the Ballot - Gavin Newsom is Panicking

California's lunatic "wealth tax," it seems, is to be on the 2026 ballot. It's one of the dumbest ideas in the history of taxation, advocated and planned by some of the most economically ignorant people to ever turn oxygen into CO2, which doesn't mean plenty of lefties won't vote for it.

The once-Golden State's impeccably coiffed Governor Gavin Newsom, with a note of panic in his virtual voice, wants Californians to know he's voting "no," and why he wants them to vote against the measure as well.

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing another blow after a massive wealth tax he warned could cause a wealth and business exodus from the state was officially added to the November ballot.
Despite his opposition, the measure's sponsor, Billionaire Tax Now, announced Thursday that it was officially being added to the state's ballot. The measure, called the California Billionaire Tax Act, would impose a one-time, "emergency" 5% tax on Californians with assets exceeding $1 billion. The tax has been endorsed by socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who called it "reasonable and necessary" "at a time of unprecedented and growing wealth consolidation and income inequality."
However, Newsom, a rumored frontrunner for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, has come out strongly against the tax, citing fears that billionaires will simply up and leave to states like Texas or Florida.

It's a little late to be worried about that now; this has been a key part of the Great Sorting, and it's only going to get worse for places like California, New York and New Jersey, states which seem to be progressing (hah) from electing liberals to electing "progressives" and now, in some cases, outright commies.

Never fear, though; Governor Newsom has a plan. He wants to jack the tax on the producers up nationwide.

So here is what I support: A national billionaires’ tax. A true minimum tax on billionaires — a modern Buffett Rule — that ensures the people at the very top pay at least the tax rate their own workers pay. Today, the office worker can shoulder a higher tax rate than the heiress. The construction worker could pay a higher rate than the developer. And the delivery driver can end up paying a higher rate than the founder of the company whose packages he delivers.

Sure, let's make sure that the productive don't just leave California. Let's incentivize them to leave the United States.

New Tax Stupidity: Will the Last Productive Person to Leave California Please Turn Out the Lights?

Here's what Newsom neither knows nor cares about: What he is proposing would be, by necessity, a wealth tax. The reason the very wealthy don't pay taxes on their net worth is that most of the net worth isn't liquid. It's wealth, but it's not income, so it isn't taxed as income. What's more, that wealth isn't sitting idle. It's working, being invested in business ventures, in startups, in growth. Newsom's lunatic proposal would have a chilling effect on that and would harm, not help, average Americans.

But here's the real kicker: This can't happen without a constitutional amendment. In this, Governor Newsom has shown himself to be as constitutionally ignorant as he is economically ignorant. Here's why, and I'm going to tell you. There are a couple of places where this issue pops up.

First, Article I, Section 2, Clause 3, the Enumeration or Apportionment Clause, states in part:

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers...

"Direct taxes," meaning, a tax levied directly on the citizens.

Then, Article I, Section 9, Clause 4, the Direct Tax Clause, states:

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

Now, here's where the rubber meets the road: We already have a tax that is not laid in "proportion to the Census or enumeration." That's the income tax. And that tax required a constitutional amendment to get around Article 1, and that was the 16th Amendment.

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

That's what Governor Newsom's wealth tax would require. And since a constitutional amendment requires ratification by 3/4 of the states - that would be 38 states - that's effectively impossible.

Really, Governor Newsom, you need to actually try reading not only some economics texts - if you can read only one, I recommend Dr. Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics - but you might also try reading the Constitution that you must have taken an oath to uphold. After all, sometimes a little knowledge can go a long way, especially when you're starting from, essentially, zero. One might even say, a little dab'll do ya.

Editor's Note: President Trump is leading America into the "Golden Age" as Democrats try desperately to stop it.

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