Posted on 06/12/2012 11:13:26 PM PDT by SmithL
The state budget that the Legislature will enact this week will assume that half of its deficit will be covered by voter approval of new income and sales taxes next November.
However, it's looking steadily less like a reasonable assumption and increasingly like just another in a long string of budget gimmicks, not unlike last year's bogus assumption that the tax system would generate an extra $4 billion.
Indeed, one could say that Gov. Jerry Brown and fellow Democrats are doubling down on miracle money, from last year's $4 billion to this year's $8.5 billion.
History does not favor new state taxes. Voters have very rarely approved any new levies and even more rarely any new taxes that they would pay themselves.
Brown tries to get around that reluctance by emphasizing that most of the new taxes would be paid by those at the upper end of the income scale.
But one portion, a quarter-cent sales tax increase, would be paid by everyone. Polling indicates that as small as it is, the sales tax hike is a tough sell in a moribund economy.
Last week, a new Field Poll found that just 52 percent of registered voters favor Brown's tax plan.
While other polls have found slightly higher support, none reaches the 60 percent mark that political strategists generally believe a tax increase must have before the campaign begins.
The tendency of tax measures to fade with time was demonstrated in this month's primary election.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
...just increase the cost of tickets on the high speed train...
Yeah...that's the ticket....budget solved.
You dumb right wing nuts should realize that we'll have money coming out the kazoo from the profits we make after we build our new high speed Choo Choo.
This is silly. Just lower the sales tax from 7% to 3% but have it applied to all retail purchases including rents and other services. Today it only applies to 25% of spending. A3% rate would boost local businesses vs. online etailers, and the larger base would collect more total revenue. Enough more revenue that we could eliminate the state corporate tax entirely, making it more attractive to operate here. Of course, without wiping out 90% of the strangling regulations, nothing will be enough to bring back businesses that have already fled CA.
I tell people from California that their state is headed for the crapper and I get laughed at, sneered at, called a racist, condescending lectures, etc.
So what do you want me to say?
So where are the spending cuts to go along with these proposed tax increases?
Cue the crickets!
Hey Jerry, you leftsucm azz. I live in California now. I make a mid six figure income. I work Mondays and Tuesdays just to pay my taxes.
You start taking my Wednesdays away, too, and I’ll just leave your f###ing cesspool of a state. And I’m not kidding.
But you’re probably too stupid to understand that I’m not alone, aren’t you, Moonbeam? Retard.
Yeah, because applying a 3% tax to an additional 75% of the economic activity in the state (effectively adding 9% to the oberall tax rate, give or take) will be good for the economy.
Not to mention adding 3% to the insane cost of living for people who rent because they can’t afford to own.
And I’m sure businesses will just lay back and enjoy the ride.
That’s just plain nuts.
Pssst...Jerry.... Drill, Baby, Drill!
Oil revenue = tax money into state coffers.
You say “adding a 3% tax”, but that is not what I proposed. I proposed REDUCING the existing 7% sales tax to 3%. The current sales tax applied to 25% of the purchasing yields the same revenue as a 1.75% sales tax applied to everything (7*.025=1.75%), while a 3% sales tax on 100% of purchasing is obviously 3%. You must be using that “new math” to find 9% in there anywhere.
You need to ask yourself who is freeloading on taxes in CA today. If you report a limited income, you don’t pay any income tax. (There’s a lot of income being under-reported by illegals and waiters, bartenders, spa workers etc. who report only 1/3 of their tip income.) If you then spend your untaxed income on rent, groceries, and services like utilities, cell phone, cable TV, tattoos, tanning, etc. you don’t pay any sales tax. If you rent, you don’t pay any property tax. Very little of your income is being taxed, whether when earned or when spent.
We could argue about some of these taxes being passed along in higher prices so these people actually pay some tax indirectly, but that isn’t the point, is it ? To these people, it APPEARS like government is FREE. Of course they’ll vote for more government “free” stuff.
People with higher reported incomes are getting hit by the entire tax burden. An income tax as high as 10% on top of the 9% corporate income tax that the corporation paid on their investments. A 7% sales tax hits them on every restaurant meal (which dwarfs their grocery spending). High property taxes as homeowners typically takes another 10% of their income. So the majority of their income is already being taxed at high rates both when earned and again when spent.
So exchanging a 7% sales tax which already applies to most of their spending for a 3% sales tax on all their spending is going to be a wash for the higher income groups. It also allows the elimination of the corporate income tax, which is very pro-growth, pro-jobs, and pro-investment.
All of it paid for by those who are currently freeloading. We need to stop driving high earners away by targeting them for taxes while attracting low income freeloaders by leaving them untaxed.
And you are absolutely correct that businesses will LOVE not having any CA corporate income tax anymore, and they’ll LOVE the extra sales from people buying locally rather than shopping online out of state.
And those "Facebook" dividends should be rolling right in any minute now...
Our consistently irresponsible legislature needs to pass a budget to avoid having their pay forfeited. Unfortunately, the same law does not require they pass a legitimately balanced budget. So, in addition to the pay forfeiture for the lack of a budget, why not forfeit all their pay, benefits and stipends for the remainder of the fiscal year if the state budget is not in balance midway through the fiscal year? The same should apply to the governor.
The “Jerry Administration” is circling the bowl. He isn’t going to get the tax increase in November so his “budget” is a dishonest fabrication. I hope the bastard shoots himself to death early next year when it becomes abundantly clear that he’s a self-made failure. It would be the right thing for him to do after having single-handedly ruined this state. He’s the Rob Reiner of politics, fat, bald, and stupid!
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