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It’s true. California is considering a “wealth tax.”

Ripped from the obituary of Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign, the idea is devious yet simple: the state will now tax not only what you make and what you buy, but also what you have.

The government will no longer just take a cut of what goes into and out of your pocket. It will pick the pocket itself.

As a levy on net worth, it’s calculated the same way as the estate tax, commonly known as the death tax – except when you’re alive. In a word, confiscation.

This will of course make people leave California, but the authors thought of that. The bill purports to keep taxing you even if you flee the state. In a word, imprisonment.

No other state has such a tax, and several European countries tried and abandoned it as a total fiasco. California used to be the birthplace of new ideas. Now it’s the graveyard of failed ones.

Even Gavin Newsom is skeptical, saying we need to “consider the impacts on your ability to retain and attract talent, individuals, companies, and your competitiveness.” I’m glad this notion has finally occurred to him.

The Wealth Tax Act appeared out of thin air when AB 2088 was “gut and amended” on Thursday, with just two weeks left in the legislative year. It claims to only target the rich, but that would just be a start.

This is on top of another bill to impose the largest ever income tax hike as well as the initiative to undo Prop. 13. With our economy at an all-time low, the macabre tendencies of California’s political class are at an all-time high.

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