A new City Journal report claims California has lost at least $180 billion to fraud on Governor Newsom’s watch. Newsom calls the report “made up.” Respected Sacramento journalist Dan Walters offers a more measured take — some of it is fraud, some is sloppy management and some is political mud-slinging aimed at a man with presidential ambitions.

Fraud, mismanagement, poor oversight, rushed spending, inadequate tracking — call it whatever you like. The money is gone. Taxpayers are out billions or dollars, give or take, and no one in Sacramento seems particularly embarrassed about it.

And now comes the bill.

California is cutting spending across the board. Los Angeles has already enacted a mansion tax. A statewide billionaires tax is being floated in Sacramento. The message being sent to the business community — the one that actually generates the revenue that funds all of these programs — is you will be asked to make up the difference.

This is how the machine works. Government expands programs faster than revenues support them. Oversight lags. Accountability never catches up. The deficit grows chronic. And then, rather than asking the hard questions about where the money went, lawmakers obfuscate or go looking for new sources of revenue. The tab always lands on someone else’s desk.

We have watched businesses leave this state for years. Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida haven’t been quiet about why they’re winning relocations that California used to take for granted. High taxes, regulatory burden and cost of living are the headline reasons. But underneath all of it is something more corrosive: the now undeniable sense that Sacramento is not a competent steward of the money it already takes.

Whether the $180 billion figure survives scrutiny, the underlying story remains the same. California spent aggressively, tracked poorly and is now asking productive citizens and businesses to bail out the result.

That is not a partisan observation. It is a business one.

The cost of mismanagement is never abstract. It shows up in your tax bill, in the services that get cut, and eventually, in the decision a company makes about where to grow next.

California is making that decision easier for them every year.