As Goes California , So Goes The Nation ?
Nov 7th, 2009 by Frank Knotts
The state of California has decided that highway robbery is a better solution to their economic troubles , than is cutting their out of control spending.
The state of California has increased payroll withholding by ten percent . Spokeswoman ,Brenda Voet , for the State Franchise Tax Board , said “this is not an tax increase. It’s just an increase in withholding”.
Well just try and explain that one to the tax payers. The increase went into effect on Nov. 1st and will also run through Dec.31st. The state says that tax payers will get the money back when they file tax returns. The sate has said that this is merely a no interest loan from tax payers to the state and that it will result in the average taxpayer only paying around $3.41 more per pay period. Well did anyone ask the tax payers if they wanted to float the crooks in the state capital a no interest loan ?
Okay that doesn’t sound like much,or does it ? At a time when the state and the nation are in extreme economic times , is it the right time to remove millions of dollars of possible spending power from the state’s private sector, just to prop up the failing state-run programs ?
Also when was the last time you knew of a government that is run by leftist such as California repealing any kind of tax increase? Once this has been put into place and the people get used to having less, and the state gets used to having more , well don’t look for this to go away anytime soon.
Now my concern is that other states will learn from California’s example and enact similar tax laws. This is nothing but state sanctioned robbery. The state is using its power to collect taxes to rob California citizens of their earned wages. Worse yet, they are robbing the economy of the state of that which could actually help the situation, buying power.
What California and any other state in trouble and the nation for that matter should be doing if they want to solve the problem of low revenues is to lower taxes so that people have more money to spend within the economy and cut spending at the government level to reduce the burden even more on the tax payers.
California is showing the natural tendency of the leftist ideology of taxing the working class more to pay for the non productive class. This is unsustainable , at some point you do not have enough working class to support the non productive class and you either have complete collapse or the state must create a slave class, forcing all to work at whatever job the government decides that you are best suited for.
What we are seeing in California is not temporary no matter what they say , and we could see the exact same thing on a national level. Unless the voters demand real cuts in government spending and waste and not just reductions in the rates of increase , this nation is headed for a crash that will make the Great Depression look like a day at the beach. And the way the voters demand these changes is by voting for people who will enact true tax cuts , that will leave the money and the spending of it where it belongs, with the people who worked to earn it !
Excellent post, Frank. You disected this smoke screen and exposed it for what it really is.
The California experience is exactly what the US faces by the time Obama leaves office. I lived in California throughout the 80′s and it was a great place to live.
Now, for the US looking like California. Our debt as a per cent of the GDP is rising so fast they will be equal by 2019. In effect we will lose our AAA Bond rating.
Before that happens the Dollar will stop being the currency of reserve for the world, I think bottle caps will have more value.
China and Wall Street is helping our demise:
http://delawarerepublican.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/the-china-syndrome/
Mike Protack
‘Now my concern is that other states will learn from California’s example and enact similar tax laws. This is nothing but state sanctioned robbery.’
It could happen here too no doubt. Hell, Markell is already holding teleconferences talking about how bad the coming year looks, in the hole from the onset, quoting Markell second hand from TNJ: ‘This year may be more difficult when budgeting than last year’, you think? Add to that the fact that this year’s Budget was balanced on tax increases and the projection of monies that aren’t coming thanks to a ‘gamble’, and that’s if you want to use the term ‘balanced’ because it’s pretty damn loose when it’s based on projections.
‘We have to balance the Budget, it’s State law.’
Pull my other leg, it plays Jingle Bells.
I could see something similar being proposed here, and given the current make up you can bet that there’s a Republican in the House that will give up the vote if it came to down it.
Can you name a few?
This is a very good post. You nailed. What I’ve always wondered is how many jobs tax cuts in an economic recession might translate to. http://www.EstateTaxTruth.org does an excellent job ferreting out how many jobs would be created by family business if the estate tax were repealed (its around 1.5 million)
OK, I hate to be an a-hole, but I just got done teaching a typing lesson to my 5th graders a few weeks ago and I reiterated to them over and over that you do not put a space BEFORE a comma. Just one space after.
I’m generally not nit-picky about punctuation and grammar on these here blogs, but I just had to say something.
I agree with what everyone said. Unfortunately the ruling regime is taking us down a very similar path as a nation.
Well , since it seems that everyone , happens to agree with me so far , all I can do is to respond to Mike Matthews .
Mike , I have been driving a truck since I was ten , first on the farm , and for the last twenty nine years on the road as a professional , so my typing skills are what they are. I’m sure that if I followed you down the road , I would see you make mistakes in your driving , but I thank you for your input , your contribution is priceless , so turn off your turn signal , and dial back the anal retentive tendency , and enjoy life !
Socialism is legalized theft. Of course, people are free to leave California- which is what is occurring, as the productive flee in great numbers. Hence, with an ever-increasing dependent class, the problems will escalate.
Is this America’s future? Yes, if we keep acquiescing to the left. Of course, like any of the great social schisms of the historical past, resolution will be at the point of a gun. If the traditionalists prevail, the Constitution, individual freedom and responsibility will be restored; if the left wins (unlikely), a collectivist state ancillary to U.N. diktats will result.
Personally, I expect some states to secede- most probably starting with Alaska. All they need do is commandeer one nominally-guarded ICBM site. Remember also that Lincoln’s first choice as commander of union troops was Lee- we all know how that turned out.
Sound far-fetched? Not if you think about it. Look to history; the past is prologue. Technology changes; human nature doesn’t.
Behold the Child
By Nature’s kindly law
Pleased with a rattle,
Tickled with a straw;
Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight
A little louder, but as empty quite;
Scarves, garter, gold, amuse his riper stage
And beads and prayer-books, are the toys of age…
Nothing changes!
A. Pope, from An Essay on Man
I assume Mike Matthew’s post is a joke. It’s a huge run-on sentence surrounded by none sentences. Please stop teaching fifth-graders grammar.
Mike Matthews’ post says my third grader
Cali will have a budget crisis before the end of the current fiscal year. The budget they past was based on Optimistic Revenue Projections (fantasy numbers).
Delaware will also fall short this year, but on a much smaller scale. The next budget will be a bigger strugle than the last, with lower revenue and a $200 million dollar hole to fill (this years “stimulus” money)
California is dying, a slow, socialist death; not to worry, the feds will mandate that the solvent, responsible states bail them out. These people must be stopped.