Okay, let’s say this actually balances our budget. CA raises taxes on everything and becomes one of the highest states to live in and do business in across the US.
What happens? Businesses leave. Jobs are lost. Sales go down. All lead to less taxes, and in a few short years taxes have to be raised again because the root of the problem is not solved: there are too many politicians in our state that can’t balance a budget and limit spending.
Why is the solution always to raise taxes? Why are there no state layoffs at upper levels? And I don’t mean teachers and CHP as that extremist liberal example from the LA times.
Look at state schools: they fire teachers before they fire board members. Why?
They cut police on the streets before they cut assemblymen and council members. Why?
Why does private businesses have huge layoffs but never the state?
The system is the problem. There are plenty of solutions, they are just too lazy and too scared to do what’s right.
What would I do?
Cut the $4 Billion stem cell reaserch program in La Jolla. Let Obama fund that.
Reverse to $20 billion high-speed rail from LA to SF.
Open up drilling on CA’s coast – that would yield $10 billion today! And don’t give me the oil spill environment BS. If you’ve ever been the beach in Santa Barbara the stuff washes up on shore.
Layoff 10% of the state employees not directly providing services to taxpayers.
Give the remaining state workers who make over the CA median income a 10% paycut.
Ditch their pensions and make them pay state taxes.
Cut personal spending budgets, staff, perks, benefits like company cars and private jets.
What will lower taxes do?
Attract business. Add jobs. Both will increase spending in local economies and increase tax revenues and the cycle repeats.
This “solution” of raising taxes does the opposite.
No one asks how we got here. The RE boom gave them huge revenue growth. What did they do? Manage it and save for lean years? No, they went on spending sprees.
Taxes weren’t higher before the boom, why is raising them the only solution?
It’s not. But politicians are too disconnected short-sighted, and uninformed to comprehend that and don’t know how to stop spending once they start.
