Gavin Newsom Tips His Hat to the ‘MAGA Movement’

But he has an awful record in California to live down if he wants to get elected president in 2028

By Allysia Finley. Excerpts:

"Democrats in Sacramento lavish tax breaks on their rich Hollywood friends so they don’t leave for other states. Meantime, they crush middle-class entrepreneurs who run fast-food franchises with a sector-specific $20-an-hour minimum wage, making Big Macs and Chalupas less affordable for those working-class Californians who haven’t yet fled the state.

Since 2020 about 1.4 million Californians have left for other states. Many are middle-class folks who can’t find jobs that cover the high cost of living. California’s 5.5% jobless rate is higher than Puerto Rico’s. In the Los Angeles metro area before the wildfires, it was 6%. When government crushes job creators with high taxes and excessive regulation, what do you expect?

Mr. Newsom’s “jobs first” plan touts his work to make California more affordable, including expansions of a state-administered program for paid family and sick leave funded by a 1.2% payroll tax, food stamps and “transitional kindergarten” for 4-year olds. This is similar to the national Democratic Party’s agenda: Expand entitlements by taxing everyone more.

Meanwhile, only 29% of California fourth-graders rate proficient or better in reading. California taxpayers are spending $50 billion more on K-12 education than they did 15 years ago, but student test scores haven’t improved."

"Mr. Newsom alluded to California’s problem of a narrowing tax base, which it owes to its highly progressive income tax. Its top rate is 13.3% on those earning more than $1 million (which rises to 14.5% on payroll income). In 2021 households making more than $10 million paid a quarter of state income-tax revenue. Those earning more than $1 million paid half.

The result is a boom-bust revenue cycle. State coffers swell when the stock market is doing well and investors collect capital gains. But revenues plunge during market corrections, and Democrats in Sacramento are left grasping for more money to pay promises they made to their public union donors. So they raise taxes even more, often by stealth."