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The little cabal of California Republicans and all the morons in California's public who have bought into the Republican mantra of "no new taxes" have helped create a huge mess in one of America's largest states and largest economies.
California can give tax loopholes to fat cats and corpies --over a billion dollars worth of NEW loopholes were added the last budget round-- but these fat cats can't apparently be forced to help out during times of distress, anymore than they do now with the 7.4 percent of their income they pay now in taxes. The supposed reason? Oh, say Republicans," it will run off businesses who want to move to California."
Excuse me, geniuses: if you cut everything and lay off hundreds of thousands of people plus businesses lose these laid off people as customers; when 11.5 percent out there in the public are out of a job, do you think new businesses will move here when there are NO customers and an uneducated workforce and a gutted infrastructure from all the cuts? Do you think creating a Third World style impoverished populace and state will help business come here?
If the population is all jobless, who will patronize those new businesses or have the education to work for them? Instead of temporarily raising taxes on those who CAN pay makes more sense than throwing the whole state under the bus just for the sake of "no new taxes"....especially because a lot of the tax structure is two tiered and unfair because of Prop 13 passed in the 1970s, whereby all kinds of people and businesses are paying very old tax rates on their property and not carrying their fair share of the tax base.
Budget cuts putting sick, elderly and poor and pregnant women in the streets are better than new taxes? Doubled or tripled fees across the board for services provided by essential state agencies are better than new taxes? Closing state parks, schools, fire, police, etc (not to mention the bite that comes out of all the businesses that depend on these state facilities, are better than temporary new taxes during a recession,if need be?
Yes, perhaps there needs to be more accountability from state leaders as to where tax money goes, but is that a sufficient reason to take the wheels off the state just so the Republican mantra can be fulfilled? Not only that, but if inflation is taken into account, "no new taxes" means that existing taxes GO DOWN every year they fail to keep up with inflation. Does this stupid Republican mantra need to be catered to while the rest of us lose our shirts?.....
Do you think laying off state, city and county workers, destroying agricultural work, getting rid of health care workers and hospitals is good for business? Is throwing students out of school (students are customers too) good for business?
The people of California are MORONS if they think they can cut everything around them way past the bone but still retain the standard of living they demand to have.. They are morons to buy into and support those Republican six or so obstructionists that refuse to go along with even temporary new taxes, especially on THOSE WHO CAN BUT DON'T PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE, such as big corporate fat cats, movie stars, mega real estate moguls and others who already pay TOO LITTLE and now have gotten even MORE loopholes given them during the latest budget round.....
And then there is Schwarzenegger, this pseudo-exotic governor who could have stood up to his little legislative cabal of fanatic, naysaying Republicans that block any meaningful reforms and stymie the State budget every year, and who are allowed to force their views, completely full of baloney, on us all here in California and allowed to destroy the state's ability to pay its bills and provide services to its citizens...and they make the recession worse with their wrongheaded obstructionist approach to almost everything.
Ronald Reagan raised taxes when he had wanted to. Why hasn't Schwarzenegger gone over the heads of the fanatics to talk to the people of California, to make his case for CHANGING THE STATE CONSTITUTION to getting rid of the 2/3 rule for passing budgets. There can be some other safeguard put in to ensure that taxes aren't raised unnecessarily, but that doesn't mean the Republicans, who are not even a majority, should annually be allowed to exercise the 'NUCLEAR OPTION' at will whenever they can, just because our dysfunctional state constitution lets them get away with it. The governor could have been a leader and sought needed reforms, such as pullling the plug on the runaway ballot initiative process that has locked in bigger and bigger percentages of the state budget, mandating where the majority of the monies MUST be spent. He could have been a leader instead of a narcissistic, photo-op, gutless public grandstander....He should have been a leader when he had to. So, tell me, too, HOW can these state-destroying Republicans call themselves "Reaganites" when they REFUSE TO DO what Reagan (raising taxes) when he saw the need to do so? Why is taking our State apart, even when times are tough, putting everyone out of jobs and in the poorhouse "good for business"? It isn't rocket science.
