We hope and pray that Californians have the wisdom to vote down the “one-time” 5% wealth tax on people with holdings that top $1 billion.

The voters should remember what the New York Times sagely warned about the income tax in 1909: “When men once get in the habit of helping themselves to the property of others they are not easily cured of it.”

One of the architects of the tax, Allen Prohofsky, has just told Bloomberg News: “I don’t trust them when they say it is temporary. I’m very seriously thinking of voting against it.”

The biggest worry for the country is what happens next if the wealth confiscation tax passes.  David Gamage, one of the masterminds of the tax and a former Obama Treasury Department official, predicts: “If Prop. 40 passes and is viewed as successful, a lot of other states and the federal level will be looking to do something similar.”

This is why we view the vote on the Prop 40 wealth tax as the single most dangerous issue or candidate on the ballot in any state.