Anti-tax groups get ready for big push in November
by Brian Leubitz
While President Obama won’t be spending a lot of time here in October, you can bet there will be a lot of money spent here. With the Special Exemptions Act, the death penalty, several contested Congressional seats and the Governor’s revenue measure on the ballot, it will be a busy campaign season. But for Howard Jarvis’ corpse, it will be the same ol’ same ol. It’s what they do every day, slam the goverment, tell them how terrible it is and bam, there you go.
There, at a news conference to announce the formation of “Californians for Reforms and Jobs, not Taxes,” Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, previewed the campaign against the governor’s November ballot initiative to raise taxes. It will rely on messages, he said, that “quite frankly, are short and sweet.”
Brown’s opponents, Coupal said, will remind Californians of the state’s relatively high tax burden, challenge the Democratic governor’s claim that his tax increase is for schools and publicize unflattering examples of government spending.(SacBee)
Of course, take any large organization and you can find some dumb stuff going on. And, the California government is such and organization. But, just because there is a small stupid thing going on, doesn’t mean that we should just toss the big, smart things that go on every day. Like, you know, educating our children, maintaining our streets, and so on. California government is simply too big to fail.
Yet, that is where we are headed. With the continued pessimism and me-first attitudes of the anti-tax organizations, we are stuck on a 20th century budget in a 21st century reality. We have neither the flexibility nor the wherewithal to continue with budget disaster after budget disaster. And, yeah, the current budget is a mess.
The governor’s measure doesn’t fix that, and doesn’t totally save the budget, but it is a step that we must take.
The Howard Jarvis people won’t be Jerry Brown’s biggest problem……
The biggest obstacle to the Brown tax measure will be
Molly Munger’s California State Income Tax Increase
That will raise taxes on everybody (including the middle class) and muddy Brown’s tax plan in the process
Let’s hope Jerry can convince Californians that we really do need a tax increase
Because we really do need the revenue
Let’s hope a lackluster President won’t suppress voter turn out
Obama may be ineffective, but Romney and the Republicans would be an EPIC DISASTER!!
About what the “other direction” is.
Not to call Brian out, but if Calitics could write the budget for CA what would it look like? Not including non-starters like revoking Prop 13 or stuff like that.
Does Robert post here anymore?
I’ve seen his recent posts on Progressivism and post-market economies. And have similar questions about how to get there and what there looks like.
About what the “other direction” is.
Not to call Brian out, but if Calitics could write the budget for CA what would it look like? Not including non-starters like revoking Prop 13 or stuff like that.
Does Robert post here anymore?
I’ve seen his recent posts on Progressivism and post-market economies. And have similar questions about how to get there and what there looks like.
Why are we ignoring the fact that California has the highest sales tax, the highest income tax and the highest gas tax? Yes, I know we have a very, very low property tax rate, but our property values are very high (as compared to the rest of the country) and therefore the tax paid on an average home is very high. And, yes. I completely agree that corporations or property that is transferred via stock and not with a deed should be reassessed.
When you look at all the high taxes that we have in California, isn’t it possible that we don’t have a tax problem but a spending problem?
Is it possible that the pensions have gotten out of control? Is it possible that our education system has loaded up on administration and slimmed down on instruction?
I think Jerry Brown is off to a good start with the re-organization of the prison system. But we need to do much more. We need to get rid of the death penalty, get rid of 3 strikes and repeal much of the pandering “tough on crime” legislation that has become so expensive.
It’s not just the prisons that are so expensive. Its the police, the courts, the district attorneys, the public defenders (who are grossly underfunded), the probation officers, the parole officers, the jails, the diversion programs…the whole thing is a horribly expensive system that really doesn’t make us safer.
It makes me ill to be in the Republican camp–but I am on this one.