Wealth Tax

• California’s Wealth Tax Fails Hayek’s Rule-of-Law Test

  

  Proposed wealth tax raises questions about retroactivity, predictability and the rule of law in California. Photo: Andre m, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 

   

  Can government impose significant new obligations based on circumstances that existed before voters approved the law?

  The architects of Proposition 40—California’s proposed 5 percent tax on billionaire net worth—say they want to tame inequality. But in their rush to redistribute wealth, they risk undermining something more fundamental: the rule of law.