Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) emphatically pushed back against suggestions that he supports a controversial wealth tax proposal in the Golden State.

This week, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board released an op-ed railing against a Democratic bill that would try to close California’s massive budget deficit by instituting a wealth tax. The editorial never said Newsom supports such a proposal, although it led with a photo of the California governor alongside the piece.

The bill in question, which has now been shelved, would have imposed a 1% tax on the total net worth of those with assets in excess of $50 million and a 1.5% levy on billionaires. Newsom, who is seen as a potential presidential contender down the road, trashed the suggestion he supports or has ever supported such a tax.

“Are you supporting a wealth tax? No, yet again. Why the hell do you keep writing about that?” Newsom said on Wednesday while presenting his budget.

“They know that because every year I say that,” he added. “I think it’s shameful because I think it’s done very intentionally. It’s not truth-seekers; it’s ideological warriors.”

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board highlighted the doomed proposal on Tuesday evening, noting, “Progressive ideas that originate in California have a habit of spreading.”

Wealth taxes have long been on the agenda for some on the Left but have faced fierce resistance from Republicans and many Democrats. Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the Tax Foundation, told the Washington Examiner that the California wealth tax plan would have encountered some major pitfalls.

“Wealth taxes require liquidating assets; they are incredibly hard to assess since tax assessors need to determine the value of closely held businesses and artwork and other possessions, and the compliance costs are enormous,” he said.

Walczak also said such a system would create “significant economic drag” and noted that most countries that have ever had a wealth tax have since abandoned them. Of note, no state in the United States has ever gone forward with such a proposal.

“This would mean not only taxing all of a person’s investments every year even when they haven’t been sold … but also taxing less liquid assets like ownership stakes in businesses,” he said.

He said the tax would have been a substantial levy on startup businesses in tech startup-heavy California. Walczak noted that a company could have a significant evaluation on paper but have no net income stream or even be losing money.

Such a wealth tax would also undoubtedly cause the wealthy, and their businesses, to flee California for lower-tax states like Florida or Texas.

But Walczak said that the specific wealth tax proposal in question, put forward by Democratic Assemblyman Alex Lee, would impose an “exit tax” where the state government would continue to tax former California residents for years after they move out of the Golden State.

“That’s pretty clearly unconstitutional and would certainly be litigated, but it also is an acknowledgment that without provisions to functionally make it impossible to leave with your wealth, the tax would drive out the wealthiest residents,” he said.

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The denunciation by Newsom comes as he gains a bigger stature nationwide. Some Democrats were hoping he would replace President Joe Biden on the ticket in 2024 and see him as a viable presidential contender in the future. Being tied to such liberal proposals would undoubtedly hurt his image among centrists.

Indeed, late last year, Newsom teed up against Republican presidential contender Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in a two-man debate moderated by Sean Hannity on Fox News, a network with a right-leaning audience that Newsom has not shied away from appearing on.