In politics, it seems like people like to put "labels" on things to make them appear to be other than what they are… The latest attempt to "linquistically twist" reality is one that is commonly used by the left, and was recently used by the state’s Legislative Analyst, and now, apparently, by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The phrase that is being used is "closing a tax loophole" — but when put through the free translation services available to anyone who understands English, that translates to "raise taxes."
In her proposed "alternative budget" the Legislative Analyst, Elizabeth Hill, proposes increasingly the amount of money that taxpayers are forced to pay into the coffers of state government by BILLIONS of dollars. But never once is this called a tax increase, instead the language "closing tax loopholes" is used.
What Hill refers to as a "loophole" was a specific decision by California lawmakers to either not tax a certain area, or perhaps to give a tax credit in a certain area. Using the phrase "loophole" makes it sound like some sort of technical error occured, and all that is being done is fixing it.
My favorite example of a de facto tax hike proposed by Hill is reducing the amount of tax credit available to families with dependents, from $294 down to $94. This is no "correction" of a loophole, the elimination of this tax credit has the effect of raising taxes on every family with children in the entire state! In fact, Hill says this would bring in $1.5 billion to the state (not out of thin air, but from the pockets of taxpayers).
According to the Sacramento Bee, today at a luncheon in Los Angeles, the Governor said:
The Bee’s take on it goes on to say that in Q&A after his remarks, the Governor recanted a bit, saying, "I’m not for the recommendations she made, necessarily."
Well, Governor, now that you have stepped into the political quagmire, our readers want to know whether you will keep your promise of not balancing this year’s budget shortfall on the backs of California taxpayers. For starters, will you oppose an effort to rip money out of the wallets of California families through the ending of the tax credit for individuals and families with dependents?
In the past this kind of this has come up, and clarifications have been made by the Governor’s office. Hopefully one is forthcoming on this, and if I get one, I will post it for our readers.
Good grief.
UPDATE (1:30PM):
This verbiage, also from the Governor, is worthy of printing for you to read:
No too reassuring.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:00 am
So tax credit for the kids goes from $294 to $94 times 3 kids makes me about $600 poorer at the end of the year. Thanks Gov.