FLASHREPORT

Assembly Bill 656 is a picture-perfect example of the flawed logic that prevails in the California Legislature as legislators wrestle with an enormous budget deficit while also trying to appease the dominant far-left liberal wing.

Need revenues? No problem. Tax big oil. That scenario plays well in a Democrat primary, so full steam ahead.

It's not a coincident that AB 656 is authored by Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, who is embroiled in a contested primary for Attorney General in 2010 and thus needs to burnish his liberal credentials.  AB 656 seeks to raise revenues and attack the oil industry by assessing an excise tax on oil - extracted only in California.

Where to begin. First, Mr. Torrico's bill clearly makes us more dependent on foreign oil at a time when most Californians want us less dependent on foreign oil.

AB 656 also would increase gas prices in the midst of the worst recession we have experienced in our lifetimes - and everyone acknowledges that a gas price increase will hit the poor hardest.  I guess the party of the less privileged can hammer the less fortunate if it benefits them politically!

Finally, the one principle that AB 656 most clearly illustrates is that higher taxes influence behavior, so if the measure passes it will be effective in reducing oil production in California, which will slow the economy even more, and reduce overall tax revenues the state expects to receive. 

Yet another poorly conceived idea that led us into the mess we are in now.  Surely we can do better than a proposal that harms the poor three different ways while greatly benefiting the little Communist dictator, Hugo Chavez, in South America.