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The Billionaire Tax debate needs a reality check

The “billionaire tax” has qualified for the ballot, according to the union organizers who launched it. It may lose in November. It may be thrown out by the courts. 

It is already hurting California.

Almost as soon as the SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West launched its signature drive, many of the state’s billionaires moved out of California.

It wasn’t hard for them. Most already owned real estate in other states, or had business interests there — states like Texas and Florida (which manage to provide for residents without an income tax, let alone a seizure of wealth).

Trillions in wealth left California. And billions of dollars in future income, which will no longer fill our state’s coffers, to be used (we are told) for essential public services, especially for the poor.

Here’s something many people don’t know. Billionaires are already taxed in California — highly.

The top 1% of earners in California pay almost 50% of the income tax for the entire state — which depends on income taxes for its........

© New York Post