Taxes on earners above $500,000 were raised,
along with a 1/4% increase in the state sales tax.
That's it.

Problem solved.



We need to kill that ridiculous talking-point from the Reagan administration, once-and-for-all.


Just a reminder for the non-lobotomized:

Cutting taxes decreases revenues.

Raising taxes increases revenues.

I mean...Duh.

Disagree?
Then give me 1/2 your paycheck, so you'll have more money.


Reflexive "Tax-Haters" need to stop lying, if they ever can.

with a few tax increases. Not the first time.

But years later the bill for the hungry kids, the people who were not educated, those who did not get medical care will be paid by our children, and theirs.

Much like in the larger country, where we let 7 million families be foreclosed on without aid, 10 million people fall into poverty, fail to invest in our infrastructure and refuse to invest in our people, and then proclaim what an economic recovery we have. It's very capitalist to pretend to do better on the backs of those who have less. Democrats, at least in certain decades, have been better than that.

Not trying to rain on your parade, but taking money from those who have more isn't the whole answer. You have to invest it in the people that need it before you can pat one's self on the back. Until all those cuts and more are restored this isn't the whole story.

Did you mean tax cuts instead of increases?
Context seemed to indicate that.

The taxes that were imposed were quite modest, IMO. That was part of my point.

With another degree of taxation that still would be doable,
most cuts would have been unnecessary.

Personally, I could have handled a bit more tax & been fine.

But CA's policy was still better than most other states.

Imagine what raising the National income tax on yearly incomes above
$300,000 or so could accomplish?
Couple that with an added National sales tax shared by everyone (1% or less) on all items that
affect health negatively, such as high-sugar and high-salt items (candy, snacks, soft drinks,
sweet baked goods, etc) as well as injury-related sports equipment such as baseballs, bats,
hockey pucks and sticks, soccer, volley and basket balls, air guns, bows/arrows, knives of all kinds, etc etc etc.
Then...

Use that money to fund a National Single-Payer HC system which includes Medical/Dental/Vision Care.


Yeah, yeah, I know----
Impossible dream, with the way too many people feel about taxation in America.

I mean, what can ya' do, with taxes bein' worse-than-Hitler and everything.

Government money stays in circulation, especially if you give it to people who aren't rich. Rich people sit on it.

is a lot stronger now than it was in 2008 as well.

In January 2008, employment in Califonrnia was 17,000,000. It fell to 16,500,000 by January 2009 and then below 16,000,000 before the end of 2009. Since then it has climbed steadily, reaching 17,000,000 again by January 2014 and now standing around 17,500,000.

An extra million people with jobs and not drawing on government services helps the deficit quite a bit as well.

Many on fixed incomes lose their homes because of property taxes. That has to change.

Old story.

Gotta' be fixed.

that's been proposed by a few people. 1% on all trading would amount to some insane amount of money. The way things work in this country, though, it would probably end up in the pockets of those living in the already richest part of America, Washington DC and its surrounding areas in Maryland and Virginia.

I'm so sick of this shit.

Love your sig.

Last edited Sun Dec 28, 2014, 08:57 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.kpmg.com/global/en/services/tax/tax-tools-and-resources/pages/corporate-tax-rates-table.aspx

Same as Canada, which also has little or no federal budget deficit.

of government are being adequately provided. We are a long way, in my opinion, from doing that. So taxes currently need to be higher.

or we can have a capitalism free-for-all (as we are currently doing) that will lead straight to revolution. Once you get past the smoke and mirrors that is what it comes down to.

But Gov't just gets more and more opaque all the time,
under both parties.


This is a real danger to representative Gov't.

I thought that California also used cuts coupled with the tax increases.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/07/news/economy/california-budget/

Another question. If higher taxes is an excuse for companies to leave California and move to other states, like Texas, what does that do to the future forecasts of income for the State Government?

In 2011 it is reported that 254 companies left the state. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/moved-342887-companies-texas.html



So with companies relocating, and the legislature certain to increase spending, how does the future budgets look?

IMO it's a balancing act. You can raise taxes, but only to the point where you drive your tax base away. So long as people have the freedom to relocate, then they will when they feel unwelcome.

So why would I post this? Because you left out half the story, the reductions in expenditures that the Governor has said he does not want to see returned to pre-cut levels. Many here would say that this budget surplus was bought on the backs of teachers and universities restricting education to the poorest among us. To a certain extent, I might agree. Obviously we can't afford everything, but I wonder about the wisdom of building new prisons while we are cutting education. Although that is probably a topic of another post. As I don't live in California, I don't know how the cuts effected the recipients of those programs. I don't know about cuts to social services like food stamps and the like. I'm too busy today or this week really to do any research, so I'll just point out that you left out half the contributing factor on the budget surplus and leave it at that.

jtuck004 reminded me of that (reply#2), and I acknowledged, and responded that we could have raised taxes even somewhat more, with little pain,
and most of those cuts wouldn't even have been necessary.


I am not one of those who panics when some businesses leave the state, as they tend to do sometimes.
Let 'em go. California will survive. Taking care of The People is good business in the long run. It is not necessary to
give away the ranch, so-to-speak, to business interests, in order to have a good climate, both for business and LIVING.


Who knows, in a few years, when the air/water in places like Texas is at a toxic-enough level, people and companies
(Aren't they supposed to be the same? ) might start a mass-exodus of that state too.

"Fair taxation" is a hard thing to accomplish in a society where everybody hates taxes.

But the concept of a balance of progressive taxation (wealthy pay more) and consumption taxes (which fall on everyone),
is a key one for society to function well. And we are evolving away from that in many places. Luckily not California.

That's sort of the point of this thread, although it is true that more cuts were employed in the CA budget-balancing
than I realized at first. Thanks for reminding me, folks!

Personally,I would have liked WAY fewer cuts, and much more accomplished on the tax end,
even if I, too had to share in the burden (horrors! ).

They just threaten to leave the country if they have to leave taxes.

So what.

Let them leave. Other businesses will arise to fulfill the demand. Cut the businesses off from American legal privileges and let them deal with the dictators and constitutional vagaries of other states. The justice shall be exceedingly poetic.

Many are going to the United Kingdom. Many would argue that the parlimentary system is more representative than the Presidential system we have. But that aside, a question I asked when a flurry of companies relocated to England was this. How can they provide lower taxes and still provide universal healthcare?

The argument that somebody will do it is part of what has driven us into a part time low wages economy.

They really wanna' leave?

Fine.


And I say,
F' 'em.

where billionaires have to drive second-hand Bugattis, and the Beverely Hills Hotel has had to replace its gold toilet seats with silver ones. What a fuckin' nightmay-uh!