Let me rephrase the question. Would our county be in so much trouble if the wealthy saw themselves as part of?

20B, YGTBKM. That would only cover HALF of just California's budget deficit before we just enacted tax increases, spending cuts and accounting tricks to barely cover it (temporarily). What we learned in this state is the more we increase taxes, the faster the government spends it, and when periodic economic downturns happen, the government is even deeper in the hole. It repeats the whole process over (increase taxes, run deficits, rinse, repeat).