Gov. Jerry Brown implores California voters: Please raise taxes on yourself
Taxes Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
By Daniel B. Wood, The Christian Science Monitor
Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday proposed a ballot initiative that would ask Californians to raise taxes on themselves.
Facing huge deficits despite $10 billion in budget cuts last year, California needs new tax dollars in order to avoid catastrophic cuts to schools and government services for the elderly, Governor Brown said.
His plan includes a 1 percent income-tax-rate increase for individuals making more than $250,000 per year, and a 2 percent rate increase for those making more than $500,000. It would also increase the state sales tax by half a cent to 7.75 percent.
In total, at least 10 initiatives that propose tax increases are vying to qualify for the 2012 ballot in California – a sign that the state that led the national tax revolt with Proposition 13 in 1978 might now be considering at least a partial reversal of course.
With many states still focused only on cuts, such a bold statement from California could reverberate nationwide – either giving other states cover to try similar measures or showing that, even with budgets in dire straits, tax increases are a political impossibility.
“A victory for tax increases in California could encourage similar moves in other states,” says Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College. “If the tax measure goes down to defeat – in a blue state running a huge deficit – the effect would be to chill such proposals in other states for many years to come.”
To read more, visit: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/1205/Gov.-Jerry-Brown-implores-California-voters-Please-raise-taxes-on-yourself
Short URL: https://reteaparty.com/?p=4784
This article makes it sound like California is some sort of tax haven. California is already ranked 6th highest in state taxes by CNN. California has a 10% state income tax rate, combined with a 9.25-9.75% sales tax, and real estate taxes that are set at about 1.3% of the purchase price of the property, with some of the highest valued real estate in the country, even after the crash. There are counties in California where the median home price is still above $1 million dollars, meaning those homeowners likely pay over $10,000 per year for real estate taxes. California has the third highest motor vehicle registration fees in the US. Over the past 20 years there has a been a mass exodus of business owners moving out of California. This tax measure will only make California’s problems that much worse when more businesses move away in order to survive. Arizona anyone?
What’s sad is that in this state, we breed the “Tax the rich” loons. They can’t grasp the consept that if the job makers are taxed even more they will leave the state and buld there businesses somehwere else and, or, raise the prices on their products and lower the hourly wages of their employees.
People will just make sure they make $249,999. or $499,999 if the state finds a way to raise the tax rates. All the government ever succeeds in doing is making people find a way around it or become tax cheats. When will they ever figure that out? I won’t hold my breath.
Why doesn’t SF invite more illegals in for their Sancuary city?
Or let more illegals get Pell grants and instate or no tuition?
But then there area so many “Liberals” in SFand LA who continue to vote
with blinders on–Hopefully the rich folks belong to these groups, and they
can help out Moonbeam with giving more taxes to bailout CA.
hahaha ! And Maggie Thatcher said it best, Pretty soon you run out of other people’s money”
Governor Moonbeam, HELLO !!!
The problem here in California is that real tax cuts that are truly meaningful will not be considered. We have in our state (as with the federal government) redundant departments, way too many do-nothing administrators from the top down. The Republicans are in the minority and can do nothing to stop the financial bleeding here. As it is, more businesses are leaving the state not only due to high taxes but burdensome and expensive regulations. On top of that, the state is NOT family-friendly and hard-working tax payers are leaving to keep their children out of public schools. There are at least 8 new laws that go into effect in January that promote homosexuality in the schools under the guise of preventing bullying. The homosexual agenda thrown at our kids from kindergarten up is atrocious. It is not just promoting same-sex marriage but also making sure that those homosexuals who made the history books are emphasized. The bill will require all the textbooks to be re-written to include the sex lives of the history-makers. Guess who will pay for these textbooks? The taxpayers. California has too many “sanctuary cities” and refuses to protect our southern borders. Pretty soon the only people left here will be illegal aliens (who burden our state finances with welfare, free hospital care, etc.) and homosexuals (good thing some of them are rich!). It is pathetic.
As a Calif teeenager, I once travelled trip to Washington State for a few weeks. Being from Calif was like being a celebrity status; manyl of my peers asked the same question: “What’s it like to live in California ?” To them it was like a dream, or a fantasy.
Now, California has become the butt of jokes, and mirth, and righlty so; it is an embarassement.
Calif is good example of what happens when tax-takers outnumber the tax-payers; it can only lead to failure.
I wish I could say that there is no chance that Calif will vote for more taxes, but, that is a fantasy; Democrats and liberals dominate the political scene, and I’m sure that they will go-along with Jerry Brown, the guy they elected.
It is sad..