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The case for California's proposed billionaire tax rests on a near-term revenue argument that is hard to dismiss. The biggest state economy in America would see receipts arrive fast.
The complication is Norway: that country's experience with targeting the wealthy shows the longer-term economic impact of such a policy is unclear, and unclear is a word budget writers should sit with before it becomes an assumption.
What the short-term case actually is Revenue speed has real value in fiscal politics. A tax on billionaires can produce meaningful receipts before any behavioral response takes hold.
California's position as the largest state economy in the country amplifies both the potential gain and the potential downside. The risk is in the years that follow.
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