FLASHREPORT

Well, the Democrats are acting predictably, I am sorry to say.  This morning in my commentary (a couple of post below this one), I said that the Democrats would unveil tax increases as part of their plan.  This morning just after 11am, the Sacramento Bee posted this story: Assembly Democrats Push Oil, Tobacco Taxes.

I urged Democrats to just come out with their nefarious plans -- and they did!  Once again, they have demonstrated that they are completely tone dead from the message sent by voters last month with the overwhelming rejection of Proposition 1A and its tax increases.

The attempt by Democrats to hike taxes are not surprising in the slightest.  After all, we are talking about Democrat caucuses that are split between complete union hacks, whose fealty to the public employee union bosses leave them unable to vote for cuts that would negatively impact the core mission of the unions (to increase the wages and benefits for union members, as well as increase the size of the union) -- and liberal ideologues to whom making any cuts in social welfare programs, let alone cuts of this magnitude, are heresy to even consider.

Fortunately for California taxpayers, Governor Schwarzenegger is not tone deaf, and has made it crystal clear over and over that he will not support tax increases as a part of resolving the state's fiscal crisis (at least going forward).  So I would expect a pretty quick veto from the Governor if these or other taxes are passed on a majority vote and placed on his desk.

This situation makes me think about a column that HJTA's Jon Coupal penned for FlashReport recently, where he rather convincingly made the case that the best outcome for the special election for big business groups (who poured millions of dollars into trying to pass the measures on that ballot) was the drubbing that the ballot measures, especially 1A, took at the polls.

Undoubtedly Capitol Democrats would be pushing these tax increase schemes whether the ballot propositions passed or failed -- but because they failed, they face a near-certain Gubernatorial veto, where if 1A had passed, who knows?

In the meantime, as gasoline prices are on the rise, I am hopeful that average, driving Californians will absorb the fact that Democrats will have unsuccessfully tried to increase the price of oil, and therefore the price of gas.