Last One Out Of California, Please Blow Out The Candles
Candles? That's right. Before long, we won't be able to afford the lights. Thank the California Teacher's Union for that. They're doing the best they can to make California the Tax Me More State. From the WSJ, they're behind tax proposals to bleed Californians so they won't have to adjust their health-care benefits and pensions like workers in the private sector economy have had to do:
The Tax Foundation announced this week that California has the second worst business tax climate of the 50 states, with only New York more hostile to employers. Congratulations, but it gets worse. If a pair of ballot measures pass next week, the Golden State could soon take the tax lead and make even Albany look like Hong Kong.Proposition 24 would raise $1.3 billion of new taxes on businesses, while Proposition 25 would allow the state legislature to pass budgets and tax increases with a simple majority vote, instead of the current mandated two-thirds supermajority.
The most pernicious is Proposition 25, which is being sold as a good government measure to end the state's annual fiscal follies and pass a budget on time. But what matters more than how a budget passes is what's in it. And the two-thirds rule that has prevailed since the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978 has been the lone restraint on the government unions and their political valets who have spent California to the brink of insolvency.
...Proposition 24 is also deceptive, starting with its title, "The Tax Fairness Act." It is opposed by just about every iconic employer left in the state--from Disney to Hewlett-Packard to Intel--because it would take away any remaining tax incentives for investing in the state. The last time California eliminated a "business tax break"--a manufacturing tax credit--Intel stopped building plants in the state, and it has since sent more than $10 billion in job-creating investment to the likes of Arizona and Oregon.
We'd prefer no such tax carve outs and a flatter tax code (see "A California Quake," September 30, 2009), but in California they're the only break from the state's preposterously high tax rates. California imposes the fourth highest personal income tax rate on small business income (10.55%), the third highest state-local sales tax (9%), and the 13th highest corporate tax rate (8.84%).
Meanwhile, when I speak to kids at a local high school -- to a regular class, not a special ed class -- it's pretty normal for 11th graders to be reading at a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade level.
Ok not really on point but I had numerous dim witted teachers growing up....fuck I hated education
I always got religion shoved down my throat by PUBLIC teachers too
Ppen at October 31, 2010 4:08 AM
Ppen: fuck I hated education
You don't say...
Patrick at October 31, 2010 5:12 AM
Pardon the odd question but...if it is so difficult to do business there, why are businesses remaining at all?
I'll be filing incorporation paperwork soon, and I've already chosen where based largely on taxation reasons. It boggles my mind that anyone would open or run a business there.
Robert at October 31, 2010 6:58 AM
Robert, I suspect that it is two things. One is probably business owners who love living in California (it is a very nice part of the country) and don't want to live elsewhere. But the other part, at least for some industries, is probably fixed assets that would be difficult to move. The company I work for once had extensive operations throughout California, and although the company has been gradually reducing its exposure there for the past 15 years or so, there are some things that will remain. For one thing, we do a lot of business with the DoD, and two big installations that we interface with -- the Seal Beach submarine base, and Vandenburg AFB -- aren't going anywhere.
Cousin Dave at October 31, 2010 7:30 AM
Ahhh, but when the tax breaks don't "trickle down" in the form of reinvestment in the economy and a now-quaint notion known as JOBS; then these businesses have only themselves to blame. I am sure they don't mind though as they lay their heads at night on their bonus-cash stuffed mattresses. Capitalism and free-markets would function fine if it wasn't for human greed and the ever-present American value of MORE. When is enough money enough? In the US? Never.
James at October 31, 2010 9:29 AM
James that is just stupid. They DO "trickle down" in the form of jobs. Its basic logistics.
A dollar spent on taxes is never going to be spent expanding a business.
A dollar given as a bonus to somebody is either:
A. Spent, thereby demonstrating demand for goods and services which expands jobs in other industries.
B. Saved in banks, thereby increasing the amount available for others in the form of business loans, student loans, bonds and other securities, or personal loans for other private citizens to make use of.
C. Reinvested in the form of stocks. Stock sales fund research and development, product production, business expansion, etc. or in my case, it provides supplemental income in the form of dividends which I am setting aside to start up a small business of my own.
The money taken by the government for taxes can do next to none of that well. But it can be used to inhibit them all.
Capitalism works because it runs on human greed and ambition. Socialism fails because it runs against those things. Either way, tax breaks can, have, and do improve things, excessive taxation can only drive improvements out.
And by the way, the top 1% of the income earners in the country are paying 50% of the nation's tax burden. How much is your tax bracket supporting? Check the IRS website, they have the data readily available.
Robert at October 31, 2010 1:56 PM
I love the way that capitalism works because of greed. Sorry, it just appeals to my sense of humor. But it's so human. If you can make just as much money staying home and watching TV as you can if you put yourself through college and work hard, then what would be the point of college and working?
Even people who like to work hard want to know they're getting something for it.
I don't remember religion in the schools. I do remember how amazingly boring history classes were compared to the books on history that I read on my own.
I also remember that none of the math books in school, at least from 5th grade on, were readable. If you didn't have a good teacher or someone who could explain it, tough luck.
Also, why are so many "classic" books that kids are forced to read for English so depressing?
KrisL at October 31, 2010 4:35 PM
I have no problem, personally, with a legisl00ture approving a budget by a simple majority vote in each house. However, it would be good if the tax increases themselves were still required to have a 2/3 vote in each house. Such a combination might lend fiscal sanity to the budget, without it becoming the annual choo-choo wreck that it has been over the past few years.
So, in the end, I would probably end up voting no on Proposition 25, because its better to have the annual choo-choo wreck, than give ever more money to the teachers unions and municipal pensions.
By the way, I'm beginning to hate the teachers unions with a hot, blue passion, which is really sad. They are, after all, teachers.
mpetrie98 at October 31, 2010 8:45 PM
A good basic idea is to vote no on all propositions unless you have a clear understanding of them and the way they affect things.
Christopher at October 31, 2010 10:11 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/10/31/last_one_out_of.html#comment-1774469">comment from ChristopherA good basic idea is to vote no on all propositions unless you have a clear understanding of them and the way they affect things.
Better idea is to research them. In California, on some props, a no vote is a yes vote for something damaging or idiotic.
Amy Alkon at October 31, 2010 11:19 PM
We still luv yoo, Ppen.
Crid [cridcomment at gmail] at November 1, 2010 6:18 AM
Except when the incumbents have gerrymandered the districts and rigged the system so that 95% of the legislature seats don't change parties in any given election.
The minority party has no way to rein in an out-of-control spending by the majority party except to "obstruct" the budget process.
California has a seriously flawed government structure.
Ballot initiatives take the place of the State Assembly actually legislating.
Each party has a lock on their Assembly seats (the Republicans caved on gerrymandering when they were bribed with a few "guaranteed" seats of their own).
The California governor is functionally weaker than the Texas governor.
The only decent thing Ahnuld may have done for Caleeeforneeea is to get the re-districting out of the hands of the legislators...except there's now a stealth proposition on the ballot to put it right back into the legislators' hands.
Conan the Grammarian at November 1, 2010 1:00 PM
I was already planning to vote NO on 24 and 25, but was somewhat surprised to see an email from our CEO sent out to all CA employees on 24. He suggested that it's passage would have serious negative effects on the company and urged people to consider that when deciding how to vote (avoiding outright asking people to vote NO of course).
Miguelito at November 1, 2010 4:56 PM
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Crista Critzer at May 9, 2011 9:47 AM
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