California, like a careless heir who squanders a fortune, keeps menacing its top taxpayers. Unless lawmakers start showing some restraint, the state’s many economic strengths are likely to further erode.

An emblematic example is the recent campaign — orchestrated by a health-care workers union — to levy a supposedly one-time 5% wealth tax on the state’s billionaires. Proponents tout the measure as an “emergency” response to cuts in federal funding of health care, education and food assistance.

© Bloomberg