Yesterday I had an opportunity to spend 30 minute on the John and Ken program on KFI radio. If you get some time, I encourage you to listen to the audio of our segment, which you can access on their website here (6/28, 3 p.m. segment), or by clicking the attachment below. We spent our time lamenting the about-face of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom we all helped in both of his election campaigns, bolstered and motivated by his fierce campaign rhetoric opposing any tax increases. Of course, the Governor is now touting a multi-billion dollar sales tax increase as a responsible solution for our state’s overspending problems. Or to put it another way, the Governor feels that taxpayers should increase the amount of money that is fleeced from California taxpayers to continue to feed the massive spending that has been largely driven by the liberal Democrats who control the state legislature. That position is irresponsible.
The Governor is on the road, on his “we need higher taxes, not borrowing” tour. It’s kind of funny that Schwarzenegger, of all people, is trying to be the champion of no borrowing. This Governor has supported more bonded indebtedness by Californians than any Governor in California history. His legacy to California will be a pile of borrowing. Yet, he makes a good point – that borrowing money to solve the state’s budget crisis is no real solution. But then neither is raising taxes, as he has proposed. The solution is rather obvious – more cuts. Lost on many is the fact that the current state budget on the table, if adopted, would actually spend more money than last year. We get the “double speak” about how we are really cutting – it’s a “decrease in the increase” – seriously!
Yesterday the Governor appeared with Los Angeles County officials to oppose any plans to take from local government funds to balance the state’s books. This morning he will appear with San Diego County officials as well. I reached out to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, with whom the Governor appeared yesterday – who assured me that he is opposed to the Governor’s proposal for a “temporary” sales tax increase. I also reached out to San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn, with whom the Governor is appearing today. His Chief of Staff confirmed for me that he, too, is strongly opposed to the sales tax increase component of the Governor’s plan.
So what is the real message here? Neither taxes nor raiding local government funds are responsible solutions to solving a massive over-spending problem. What is needed is a scaling back of state government expenditures to levels that are reasonable. The challenge, of course, is that to liberal Democrats in the legislature, growing government and increasing a system of redistributing wealth, coercively, is like a religious quest. So much so that talk of cuts, especially substantial ones, is the equivalent of blasphemy. That said, their cause of avoiding more cuts is not being aided by the Governor’s placement of a tax hike on the table.
In closing, today Senate President Don Perata is forcing a vote on a state budget that would include a massive sales tax increase. I predict this to be DOA with no GOP support at all. I guess the interesting question will be this — what does Senator Lou Correa, a Democrat who won election on a no new taxes commitment, do when forced to vote a multi-billion dollar tax hike today?
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