If anyone thought that the budget that the legislature just passed reflected any degree of fiscal responsibility, let us disabuse you of that notion. While other states balance their budgets, California is spiraling down the financial commode. The state’s structural deficit is a chronic, multiyear imbalance of $20 billion to $35 billion annually because of overspending that outstrips population and inflation. Florida, in contrast, avoids chronic long-term deficits by maintaining a leaner, low-tax government structure. What is even more incomprehensible is that California taxpayers have done far more than their share to address the problem by generating higher revenues every...