Enough is enough

In this Bloomberg article, "California Democrats Seek Tax Boost as Battle Looms," the title says it all. California Voters rejected the May Ballot initiatives seeking to raise taxes to close the $24 Billion deficit. What were Obama's words, oh yeah, 'I won, so I'm gonna trump you on that." Well, California Voters won and we're going to trump you on that. No new taxes. No raising taxes. Now cut the damn budget. We understand the consequences.

However, I have a proposal. Let's not go through the budget and cut program's budgets in order to keep all current programs. Let's ask ourselves, what do we really need from our State. We pay gas taxes for infrastructure projects. We pay CA State Disability Insurance (Income Tax) in case we get injured on the job. We pay Sales Taxes, soon to be 9.75% in LA County. Some of the money is retained by the State, the other portion is distributed to local and county municipalities for their general budgets. We pay property taxes to pay for public education. What do students need most in order to be educated? Books and teachers. Special, expensive programs or technology should be put on the back burner until revenues increase enough in order to provide for these non-essential expenditures. On and on the process goes.

When the revenues are spent on these essential services, and there's no funding left for projects such as paying five years of welfare benefits to single mothers taking education classes, that's too bad. When our prison system has to cut theatre classes, stop maintaining tennis courts, lose cable TV, that's too damn bad. Our State Legislatures need to provide us with a list of essential priorities and continue to fund those priorities as usual. The non-essential programs have to go until the Economic situation improves to the point we can begin to fund them again. Will our State be worse off without these non-essential programs, absolutely not. It's inexcusable as well to withhold county and local municipality revenues when the State isn't mature enough to control its spending.

One last thing, if our State made itself more competitive by lowering Income Taxes and Sales Taxes; businesses and rich individuals (aka people with disposable income) will move here and help create jobs, thus boost our sagging economy. As long as Politicians' focus is to hose the productive segment of Society for the benefit of the not-so-productive segment of Society; the productive segment will vanish.