Let’s Put an End to Tax Tyranny
Taxpayers are sick and tired of being used, abused, and forced to pay for government programs and services they don’t want at prices they can’t afford. They are irate at having to bail out politicians, most of whom have no notion of what true public service is all about and who run for office only because they can’t get real jobs and have egos that require constant maintenance.
In the immortal words of Howard Jarvis, “We’re mad as hell!”
California taxpayers are carrying an unsustainable tax burden. They don’t need to see the new report by the National Conference of State Legislatures to tell them that last year’s tax increase was the highest percentage increase – more than 10% — of any of the twenty-four states that raised taxes in 2009. They feel it in their bones. They also don’t need to hear that unemployment is at 12.5 percent — without counting the marginally employed and those who have given up looking for work — and home foreclosures are at record highs, to know that they are struggling just to get by.
Time to Draw the Line on the Energy Tax
In 2006, California embarked on a great experiment by passing its own law to reduce global warming. But Assembly Bill 32, “The Global Warming Solutions Act,” is hardly a “solution” if you ask any economist, employer or taxpayer group. Governor Schwarzenegger inexplicably signed the bill into law, perhaps searching for some sort of legacy for his ill-fated administration.
Notwithstanding the fact that much of the law has yet to be implemented, its mere potential for inflicting massive damage on the California economy has already had a negative impact on businesses and employment. Ironically, there are no positive environmental outcomes as a trade-off for all this economic damage.
AB 32 won’t affect global warming one iota because California is only a sliver of the global pie, especially compared to China, India and Russia. Greenhouse gases, to the extent they have any negative environmental impact at all, have no respect for political boundaries. In short, the earth only has one atmosphere. But AB 32 will dramatically alter EVERY facet of life in California – whether you’re a business, a family, a taxpayer, or a consumer.
High Speed Travesty
Obama’s decision to give California’s controversial High Speed Rail project a $2.25 billion boost could also be called Cash For Clunkers, Part Deux. Although barely a fraction of the $80 billion ultimately needed for completion it is unfortunate that the High Speed Rail Authority was given a wad of walking around money to fool around with. High on the list will be hiring more P.R. hacks to push the viability of the project in light of the embarrassingly inept "business plan" recently released and roundly criticized from just about every point on the political spectrum.
The truly bad news is that the Authority will undoubtedly use the funds to start digging holes up and down the state to get as much momentum as possible so that reversal of the decision to even build the project will be very difficult. Californians ought to be asking themselves a simple question. How many transportation projects that are actually needed could we have funded for $2.25 billion?
Wheels Coming Off High Speed Rail
When California voters barely approved a $9.95 billion bond measure for High Speed Rail in 2008, they had no idea how soon they would learn the true meaning of the phrase “being railroaded.” As more about this project is revealed, the backlash from the public and political leadership is sure to grow.
For purposes of full disclosure, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association ran the unsuccessful campaign against Prop 1A (not to be confused with 2009’s Prop 1A, an attempt to raise $16 billion in new taxes). Our most potent weapon was a devastating study by the Reason Foundation which revealed that the proponents’ representations regarding costs, fare price and profitability were pure fantasy. But, from the start, we had an uphill battle convincing voters how poorly thought out this measure was. The California Legislature had already stacked the deck by providing such a biased title and summary for the measure that the issue of that deception is still the subject of litigation today. The deceptive ballot material, in addition to the campaign contributions from those who would profit from the project, was enough to ensure victory at the polls – albeit by a very small margin.
The Year in Review: Top 10 Worst Tax Gimmicks of 2009
It’s been a rough year for taxpayers in California. As 2009 comes to a close, Californians find themselves clutching their wallets more than ever.
Below, a look at the diabolical, dangerous, and downright worst Tax schemes of 2009:
#10: As part of last summer’s Budget deal, Legislators agreed to sneak an additional 10% Income Tax Withholding from Californians’ paychecks just in time for the holidays.
#9: Claiming he could solve the State’s budget crisis with a single puff, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano introduced AB 390. He claimed the bill would close California’s budget gap to the tune of $12 to $18 billion by legalizing – then Taxing – marijuana sales.
#8: Desperate to find revenue, Governor Schwarzenegger threatened to solve the Budget crisis&hellip one Golf course at a time. His plan to tax “greens fees, monthly dues, and golf cart rentals” got caught in the rough. Perhaps he feared a nine-iron to the rear windows of his black Suburban?
Would You Like Cheese With That Whine?
Sacramento lawmakers are unhappy with their jobs. Recent complaints by members of the Legislature include: People don’t appreciate them; solving problems is hard work; they don’t have the power they think they deserve; their retirement is mandated by term limits; there is no lucrative pension; and their pay is being cut – although they will remain the highest paid lawmakers in all 50 states at nearly $100,000 annually along with a car and another $30,000 a year in tax free expense money.
If lawmakers don’t like their jobs, their dissatisfaction is not nearly as strong as that of the general public. The October Field Poll showed the Legislature’s approval at a record low 13%.
“Who wants to grow up and be held in low esteem by 87% of the people and have to deal with the budget and not have a darned thing to say about it,” Assemblyman Juan Arambula told the Los Angeles Times.
Plunder: New Book Exposes Power of Unions
Last month, the Legislative Analyst Office predicted a budget
shortfall for California’s next fiscal year so large it shocked even
seasoned observers. The projected $20 billion shortfall is larger
than the entire state budgets of all but a handful of other states.
The LAO also excoriated the continued use of budget gimmicks,
including unrealistic assumptions of new revenue and accounting tricks
employed to effectively borrow from future years.
But it is not as though we didn’t see this coming. Try as they might,
our state political leaders simply cannot reduce spending to a level
equal with revenue. Instead, with the help of a few Republicans, last
February the state enacted the largest tax increase ever imposed by
any statehouse in the history of America. The results were
predictable: Like the tax increase of 1991, California plunged deeper
into recession and produced less revenue.
HJTA Questions Legality of New $143 Billion AB 32 Tax
Last week the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association sent the AB 32 Economic and Allocation Advisory Committee (EAAC) a letter spelling out the reasons why we believe that the state has no legal authority to impose a new AB 32 auction tax on California companies and consumers. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the Governor have asked the EAAC to provide advice to CARB on how to spend up to $143 billion in new government revenue. We thought it would be wise for the EAAC to consider whether CARB actually has the authority to raise this revenue in the first place.
The idea of an auction tax has long been promoted by environmental organizations and is being considered by CARB as a way to impose a California-only cap-and trade system that would ration conventional energy use as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under AB 32, our state’s Global Warming Solutions Act.
Beyond the fact that imposing a new $143 billion or more tax on California’s already struggling companies would destroy thousands of jobs and force more employers to leave the state, CARB has no legal authority to initiate a cap and trade auction, as the Legislature did not grant any such authority under AB 32. Should lawmakers attempt to bestow this taxing power on CARB retroactively, it will require a two-thirds vote of both houses because imposing government costs through a cap and trade auction is clearly a tax.
Gifts to Lawmakers Are a Slap at Taxpayers
Two years ago, when then Assemblywoman Sally Lieber introduced a
bill to prohibit the spanking of children, she was ridiculed for
what many Californians considered to be frivolous legislation. In
light of recent revelations of the “S & M” tinged escapades of a
married, middle-aged lawmaker and one or more lobbyists, some
capitol observers are wondering if Lieber should have targeted an
older demographic.
Although the just-resigned legislator, who described his conduct to
a colleague unaware that he was also sitting before an open
microphone, now says he made it up, it calls into question just what
services and gifts are provided by lobbyists in an effort to
influence legislation. After all, the lobbyist with whom the
official claimed to have this special relationship had business
before a committee on which he served as vice-chair.
The Sacramento Bee recently completed an analysis of gifts, over and
above campaign contributions, that are provided to California
lawmakers. The Bee found that between January 2008 and June 2009
lobbyists gave legislators, their staffs and relatives about
$610,000 in gifts.
Tea party tomorrow to demand an end to over-the-top job killing eco-regulations
Thousands of taxpayers, farmers and small business owners will converge on California’s Capitol in Sacramento tomorrow for a Tea Party rally which is being sponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
At the top of the event’s agenda are California’s job-killing global warming law, AB 32 and the devastation of Central Valley farmlands in an effort to protect a 2-inch long minnow. Economists estimate AB 32 will cost our state over 1 million jobs, will cost the average family nearly $4000 annually and will cost the average small business almost $50,000. Many Central Valley farmers have seen their fields turned into a dustbowl by an order shutting down water pumps, and unemployment in some rural communities now exceeds 40%.
From the huge April 15th Tax Day Tea Party, to our overwhelming defeat of Proposition 1A, taxpayers are in revolt. Much like when Proposition 13 was passed, taxpayers are fed up with a government that has made California a state that leads the nation in high taxes and high unemployment. Unbelievably, some state officials are now even pushing for higher gas taxes and higher property taxes on businesses.