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Zkribbler
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Los Angeles, CA, USA
Feb 1999
time: 21:33
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quote:
Originally posted by Fez
"California is one of the fastest growing states in the nation"
We are? Last time I heard the economy here was in a slump. |
No, I meant growing in population.
quote:
"Second, we need to revoke the tax breaks given to commercial and industrial properties under Prop 13. "
Last I heard businesses were taxed the most here out of the entire nation. Great drive away more businesses.  |
Businesses are taxed the most in California. We are high in sales tax and income tax--which hit the middle class the hardest--because of the stranglehold Prop. 13 has on the property tax. And we have the highest workers' comp. rates and lousy benefits because that system is really busted. 
...But drive more businesses away?? Last time I looked, our state was the 5th largest economy in the world. Los Angeles's economy is equal to all of Russia's.
quote:
What this state needs is more corporate tax cuts.
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Let's see...so we cut more corporate taxes, and most of the income for the wealthy is now tax free, yet we have to have a balanced budget. Hmmm, who is go to have to pay more now? I know....yet more tuition increases for CSUN!! 
quote:
And Gray Davis was a moron.... who screwed up the state... I mean he was cutting back on education himself. |
Gray Davis was not a moron; he was a slimy money grubbing politician, but he wasn't a moron.  And he wasn't cutting education until right at the end when, in the face of budget deficits caused by: (1) the bursting dot-com bubble, (2) the nationwide recession, and the (3) Wilson-caused energy crisis, the Republicans acted with incredible irresponsibility by blocking any rollbacks of the tax-cuts they got for the wealthiest Californians.
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CharlesBHoff
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el paso texas
May 2002
time: 05:33
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Only the one to refincance the old debt make sence. There is no just thing as than balance budget in Big Bussien and in Government.
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Barinthus
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A Magical Moment...
Jan 2004
time: 21:33
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Steve Lopez, an editorial columnist for LA Times, made some good points against those Props. I'm curious what you guys think, especially Giancarlo.
quote:
This Bitter Pill Is Too Hard to Swallow
Steve Lopez
February 22, 2004
Like all good Californians, I guess I'm supposed to open my mouth and take my medicine next week at the polls.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been telling us this is the way it has to be, and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is one of many Democratic pushovers who agree that Proposition 57 is the way to fix what ails us.
If Californians fail to pass the $15-billion bond measure, they warn in their fear campaign, we'll face Armageddon. All the Prop. 57 cheerleaders love using that word.
Well guess what.
I don't want to take my medicine. And I particularly don't appreciate having someone try to ram it down my throat.
Reasonable people can certainly conclude that Prop. 57 is an acceptable way to begin digging out of our horrible mess. But I'm tired of being told it's the only way, particularly by a flip-flop governor who campaigned as a committed critic of borrowing.
Schwarzenegger, the anti-special interest candidate, will be in New York this week at a $500,000-a-plate dinner. He wants to make sure he can bankroll the estimated $10-million blitz of Prop. 57 ads we'll be forced to endure between now and March 2.
You won't see any ads from the other side, because all the big money is lined up in support of Prop. 57, which should tell you all you need to know.
If there were an ad for the other side, it'd go something like this:
Remember the last time you and your family had trouble balancing the books?
Chances are, you did what all of us do. You cut back a little, you logged a few hours of overtime or found some other way to boost your income, and you reluctantly pulled out the credit cards as a last resort.
Gov. Schwarzenegger wants to use credit cards as a first option, running up an ungodly debt that would saddle you and your children with the tab for years to come.
Why? Because his wealthy friends on Wall Street and in California will make out like bandits under his plan, while middle-class and low-income families get the short end of the stick.
As state Treasurer Phil Angelides explains, Prop. 57 would be almost entirely paid for by a portion of the existing sales tax, which means middle- and lower-income families would fork over a higher portion of their incomes than the wealthy. They'd also get whacked when $1.2 billion worth of that sales tax was diverted annually from existing services to pay off Prop. 57.
The cuts "won't come from repair service on yachts," Angelides said. Lower and higher education, health care and other programs vital to working families will take the hit.
So far, Californians seem to be wise to the ruse. A poll last week showed only 38% support for Prop. 57. But who knows what 10 days and $10 million worth of shilling by a movie star can accomplish?
In the event Prop. 57 tanks, Angelides, a Democrat, has offered up a Plan B. The only problem I have with it is that it isn't Plan A.
Angelides would do some cutting, borrow less and pay it off faster, and raise money from two taxes.
One is an existing 1/4-cent sales tax that would be used to retire Prop. 57 debt under Schwarzenegger's plan. The Angelides alternative would draw on that 1/4 cent for just three years, as opposed to at least three times as long under Prop. 57.
The other tax would temporarily hike the top income bracket on the wealthiest Californians.
If anyone in that group is planning to call up and scream at me about your unfair burden, cancel your subscription or send me three-hanky stories about the hard work it took to get to the top, I'm asking you to hold off until at least the next paragraph.
Angelides' plan would raise taxes to the precise levels used by former Republican Govs. Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson.
Individuals making $140,000 and couples making $280,000 would go from 9.3% to 10%. Individuals making $280,000 and couples making $560,000 would go from 9.3% to 11%.
That doesn't sound to me like a tragic amount of suffering, especially when you take the following into consideration:
"When you restore the Reagan-Wilson 11% tax bracket," Angelides says, that raises $2.4 billion in one year and affects roughly 1% of the population. The "same 1% gets $12.76 billion worth of federal tax cuts this year," by Angelides' accounting.
"What's happening here," he says, "is that taxes we used to have under Wilson and Reagan and Clinton at federal and state levels have been washed away, and that's part of the reason we have today's problems."
You haven't heard any of this, naturally, from Schwarzenegger or the lackey, star-struck Democrats who've been carrying his water on Prop. 57.
Darkness is on the horizon, and they've barely got time to warn us of the coming Armageddon.
*
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Steve Lopez writes Sunday, Wednesday and Friday and can be reached at steve.lopez@latimes.com. Read previous columns at latimes.com/lopez.
Steady rain and cool temperatures will dampen spirits this weekend in Santa Paula. |
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17-02-2004 02:35
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