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发帖数: 8227 | 1 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 super majority.
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.
Only last year, voters were spared another huge tax increase when Democrats
who control the legislature agreed with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on a
budget deal. Using their leverage from the two-thirds rule, a GOP minority
demanded a referendum, and the voters rejected the deal. The annual budget
squabbles may be messy, but they draw much-needed public attention to what
the spending interests would prefer to keep secret in Sacramento.
Proposition 25 is deceptive because its "intent" language that purports to
explain its meaning to voters claims that the law "retains a two-thirds vote
requirement for taxes." But "intent" sections aren't included in the state
Constitution. Instead, the proposition clears the way for a straight
majority vote for budgets and the more amorphous category of bills "related
to the budget." That's an exception wide enough to drive a tax increase
through, and nearly every state taxpayer group and their legal experts are
convinced that this is an attempt to end-run Proposition 13.
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, 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%).
The main sponsor and funder of these tax initiatives is—you'll never guess
—the California teachers union. Need we say more? The unions are desperate
for more taxpayer cash lest they have to adjust their health-care benefits
and pensions as workers in the private economy have had to do. They seem to
believe they have no stake in the state's economic growth so they can pile
on taxes even with a 12.4% state jobless rate. A horrific 21.9% of the state
's residents are either unemployed, can't find a full time job, or have
become so discouraged they are only marginally attached to the labor force.
But public employees, protected by the political class, live in an
alternative universe.
Both propositions are leading in the polls, which suggests that a majority
of state residents are already smoking the marijuana whose legalization is
also on the Tuesday ballot. If they pass, voters might as well legalize
drugs because they're going to need something to ease their pain. |
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