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California Government: More taxes on a shrinking Middle Class
California Government: More taxes on a shrinking Middle Class

California Government: More taxes on a shrinking Middle Class

In July of this year the State of California passed a total budget of $167 Billion including general fund, special funds, and bond fund expenditures.  This is an all-time record funded primarily by increased revenue created by higher taxes on all Californians as well as improved revenues from wealthy taxpayers whose income actually increased.

The Governor and legislature increased general fund spending on education, Health and Human Services, and even extended medical coverage to illegal aliens.  But with the increased revenue, did any of it go to fund roads and highways that the Governor has admitted to underfunding to the tune of $60 billion dollars?  No.

The Governor instead passed that responsibility off to a Special Legislative Session that ends September 15th, in an effort to pass increased taxes on gasoline, diesel fuel, and cars, commodities mostly paid for by the poor and middle class.  Californians now pay the highest per gallon gas taxes in the country, when you add in the carbon tax implemented in January of at least 10 cents per gallon.  (They don’t actually calculate the number for us as it is assigned to gasoline companies who charge it to consumers through increased gas prices at the pump.)

Now, the state legislature is proposing a 12 cent per gallon increase in the gas tax along with higher car fees and a new “Prius” tax on electric vehicles because electric vehicles have been getting a free ride.

This wouldn’t be so offensive if California were a low taxation state and actually spent gasoline taxes and vehicle based revenues on repairing and maintaining roads and highways.  But, of course that is not the case.

Californians pay some of the highest taxes in the United States in nearly every range whether you are comparing sales taxes, income taxes, gasoline taxes, and property taxes when based on actual dollars paid.  Coupled with some of the highest consumer prices in the country on electricity, gasoline, and commodities like eggs due to expensive regulations along with the high cost of housing, and it is no surprise that California has the highest poverty rates in the country.

Yet it is those same people that the Governor and State Legislature hope to tax more!

Sacramento also has a very bad habit during difficult budget years of taking transportation revenues and spending those dollars on other priorities, further exacerbating an already bad situation.

We should also remember that local communities have voluntarily increased taxes to pay for roads, freeways, and transit through local sales tax measures subsidizing Sacramento’s failure to maintain its own state highways.  In San Bernardino County Measure I is a half-cent sales tax that voters have twice authorized.  Riverside County has a similar tax in Measure A.

Yet Sacramento, after dramatically increasing spending on welfare and education, wants more of our dwindling take home pay to fund infrastructure that makes the rest of our economy possible.

The challenge for our Democrat controlled state government is that under Proposition 13, any new tax increases imposed by Sacramento has to get a two-thirds vote.  This requires a few Republicans to cross party lines.

Democrats are hoping that with pressure from the Chamber of Commerce and some other business entities that they will be able to pick off a few Republican votes.  It worked in 2009 when a number of Republicans did vote for a tax increase.  But, most of the current Republican legislators remember what happened to those assembly and senate members who supported the higher taxes.  They were subject to recall petitions and soon left public office never to return, save one.

New polling now shows 63 percent of voters oppose increasing gas taxes.  Perhaps Sacramento Republicans and Democrats should listen to the people this time around.

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