By Tom Kando
Polls predict that most of the six ballots measures on which we (at least some of us) will soon vote, will be rejected. Proposition 1F is the only one likely to pass. That’s the one which will punish elected officials, by denying them salary increases whenever the state budget has a deficit. Fine.Things are tough. The global economy is in the toilet. California is in some ways worse off than many other places. Our economic conditions are aggravated by the fact that we cannot govern ourselves. People are mad, and so they are going to vote against anything, no matter what. Or they won’t vote at all. Anger is the only thing people know. They blame politicians. Why not? You have to blame someone (although I prefer to direct my wrath at Wall Street, AIG, and corporate gangsters like Bernie Madoff).
Reminding the electorate that California’s problems are systemic and structural is like whistling in the wind. For one thing, we have this asinine two-third majority requirement. 47 of 50 states pass their budgets by simple majority, but California requires a super-majority. And most years that process doesn’t work. Additionally, California governs by referendum. Year after year, the electorate is asked to make momentous decisions. Without realizing the consequences, the electorate passes ballot measures such as prop 13 which freezes property taxes, prop 98 which freezes education funding, and so forth. And after decades of such thoughtlessness, the State has painted itself into a corner. Its legally mandated commitments far exceed its receipts, even during the best of times.
The problem is simple: the electorate wants to have its cake and eat it too. It wants all the services, but it doesn’t want to pay for them.
So, at the risk of re-stating the obvious, let me remind you why it would be good if the remaining propositions also passed on May 19: Because without them, the state deficit will be even larger, i.e. it will grow from $16 billion to $22 billion.
Without going into the details of Propositions 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D and 1E (check out http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/ for a summary), let me sum up by saying that some of them would require a modest amount of “revenue enhancement.”
But the electorate has been brainwashed by America’s plutocracy (a.k.a. the Republican Party, Wall street, the Chamber of Commerce, the Business community) into knee-jerk opposition to ANY tax increases. An overwhelming majority of public opinion now agrees that when a state budget has a deficit, the solution must consist ENTIRELY of cuts in spending, NEVER of revenue enhancement.
But where is it written that our taxes are too high? Where is it written that a modest increase in taxes will hurt business? Have people compared the quality of life and of public services in low-tax countries and jurisdictions with those in countries and places with higher taxes?
On May 19, the electorate will take another giant step towards starving the beast (the state, the government). As a result, there will be a further deterioration in services (education, health care, corrections, law enforcement, transportation, etc.), more hardship for the millions who depend upon the state’s safety nets, a further decline in California’s overall quality of life.
I am sorry to have to tell you this, folks, but politicians aren’t the problem. You are. Keep it up. Soon California will be a Third World place similar to most countries south of the border.leave comment here
4 comments:
While I totally agree with your analysis of our (Californian electorate) voting patterns, and the nearly future-blind propositions that have been passed in recent years, I beg to differ that Californians are shooting themselves in the foot by wanting to "have their cake and eat it too."
Using the "tax freedom day" as a comparison across nations and states we can see a little bit why Californians are weary of taxes.(The numbers themselves may be bloated, but in this case they would be bloated in all cases so certainly comparable).
CA's tax freedom date was April 20th this year, ranked 4th highest in the nation. We pay a lot in taxes (not as much compared to most European nations), but then again we are being provided with lower quality public education, infrastructure and health care that many of those nations receive.
But with half of every tax dollar being spent on war, and so much else being spent on the prison systems and incentives for big businesses, especially here in California, it makes sense that we don't get much out of our tax dollars.
So under the current tax-dollar-to-benefit ratio, Californians have every right to want to "cut back" on paying taxes until they actually see the fruits of their labor being returned in ways better than they could do on their own. We'd almost be ignorant to voluntarily pay more in taxes when prisons get more funding than higher education or gridlocked highway lanes get expansions over investments in public transportation.
What makes me upset is that the bloated government threatens (as they always do) to cut health care and education FIRST and hardest if they don't get their increases. At the very least fiscal cuts should be evenly distributed or aimed away from education and health care which are almost universally regarded as one of the top "benefits" of big government.
Sales taxes are going up, living costs are high, California already pays out more in federal taxes than our state gets back, and our politicians over-borrowed and invested badly. So I think we're not quite trying to have our cake and eat it too. And true, we should have voted them out far earlier if we were smart and paying attention like we should in a democracy... but that's a whole different comment altogether.
Thanks for the interesting post. Its certainly good to remember taxes are inherently bad.
Make that a "taxes aren't inherently bad". Oops.
Wow no interesting comment here. You have stated the situation our state is in precisely. I have often commented to many, that for some unexplicable reason, individuals expect (and deserve) services. The trend of the times, coming out of the recent GOP dark ages, no one wants to pay for these things. You are 100% on the mark, in your assessment, in my opinion. Let's hope for the best in the upcoming election. Clarice-I vote !
We New Yorkers have the highest combined tax burden in the U.S. (the sum of state, county and town tax plus property tax). And as "A Simple Californian" said, we don't get much back for it, with nearly half spent on war, and far too much on the corrupt prison system and other big business subsidies. This misappropriation of our tax dollars is a national systemic problem. Since WWII, the military-industrial complex has gotten the upper hand, overpowering the democratic process. It seems like America's unreigned capitalism has devoured democracy. And it's not just a problem in America. Democracy's future is fragile on a global level, too. On May 8 in Grenoble, at a forum on the future of democracy, 3,000 French-speaking intelligentsia examined "how our globalized universe is going to continue and develop the democratic process or whether that process might peter out, or even collapse."
I just happened to be reading this article about it today at Truthout.org. "....the two latter components of democracy - equality and regulation - have been neglected in favor of the extension of individual rights." Check it out:
"The Democracy Factory"
http://www.truthout.org/051509F?n
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