When Republicans Raise Taxes (They Don't Call Them Taxes)
The Orange County Transportation Corridor Agencies, dominated by local Republican politicians such as Jerry Amante ("Toll Road Jerry") of Tustin and Orange County Supervisors Pat Bates and Chris Norby, has announced that tolls on the 73, 241, 261, and 133 toll roads will go up by 25 cents on July 5, and the monthly account maintenance fee for those with FasTrak will double from $1 to $2 per transponder.
But this post isn’t about the County’s transportation problems or the specific problems of the County’s toll road boondoggle.
It’s about taxes.
Local Republicans have made their political living by claiming to oppose tax increases – any tax increase, for any reason, come hell or high water.
But more and more often, these same Republicans are raising the costs of public services.
Toll increases are one example.
Tuition increases for community colleges and state universities are another.
The rule – or rather the ruse – is that Republicans don’t call these increases in the cost of public services taxes.
They call them tolls, or fees, or tuition increases.
But they are taxes by another name.
And they are all regressive taxes – taxes that disproportionately hit working people and the middle class.
So I ask my Republican readers: What happened to your no tax pledge?
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John Jacob Di Gasbarro
So Polite
Tim4change
Rolling
Dorian de Wind
Lairderg
Salon.com
Comments
I would love to see your "take" on what's going to happen with the debacle of our Cali budget process. It seems to me that the intransigence of the parties in terms of an unwillingness to productively address what has become an even greater fiscal disaster than we could have imagined is going to end up costing all of us dearly. I see no effort in Sacramento for the parties to come together to resolve this nor do I see any pro-active effort to create a set of circumstances, policies and governance change which will allow it to be avoided in the future.
The "tax" ruse with the transportation corridor is but a microcosim of the ills facing all of California and from which we will all increasingly suffer.
First, I note that you don't dispute that the toll road increase is a tax.
Second, my take on California's budget debacle is that the cost of government must be lowered - and that revenue must be increased.
The cost of government can be lowered by cutting unnecessary administration, cutting prison building and expansion, and stopping the spend now, pay later insanity of constant borrowing (which both Republicans and Democrats have embraced as a politically expedient way to get revenue).
Revenue can be increased -- and increased enormously (in the billions of dollars) -- if California would do two things that just about every other state does -- (1) tax commercial property at realistic rates and at current values and (2) create a "user fee" (let's not call it a tax) on oil and gas extracted from the state.
The ONLY way a politician can get elected is to tell the electorate that they are going to magically solve all of our problems WITHOUT causing us to suffer in any way, shape or form.
Typically, politicians fulfill their promise by deficit spending, in various ways, and simply create the "illusion" of prosperity and pass a larger long-term problem onto the next huckster/liar to take the job.
But for California, which is once again leading the nation, the time of reckoning is nigh. Californians have been MASSIVELY living above their means and it's time to pay the piper! Even lying, thieving, voter-enabled political rats aren't going to squirm out of the economic tsunami that's roaring toward the Golden State.
And so, yes, Republicans and Democrats alike are going to have to throw ideological concerns overboard and do what they are loath to do: cut lots of spending and raise lots of taxes. Sure, they'll hide behind euphamisms but at this point, finger pointing by CA residents is a bit silly.
I couldn't agree more with those 2 sources of revenue which have been woefully underpenetrated. I am also convinced that somehow we must address the goverance of our state. Again, an excellent post.
But, although I sympathize with illegals - they're just doing what they can to have a better life - I can't help but think that part of the solution to this all has to be the politically incorrect step of denying almost all services to illegal immigrants.
I don't even know if it's easy to quantify how much it costs to provide education, social services and health care to illegals but it must be a lot of money and sooner or later if CA is to remain fiscally solvent they've got to face this issue.
Also, might I add that I'm going to pull my hair out if the Federal Government has to bail out CA. I left there because I couldn't afford to live there and pay taxes so I certainly don't want to end up on the hook for them now that I don't live there!
Anyway - should be interesting to watch the fireworks over the next year.
It's kind of a Catch-22 because those corporations will claim that if they're not given those tax breaks that they'll go somewhere else. Some of them are bluffing and some probably aren't.
And clearly, if taxes and fees go up too much, more people will leave and it will probably be the tax base that leaves - the richest can afford to pay some additional taxes without their lifestyle being impacted, and the poorest won't pay much in taxes anyway.
tough nut to crack.
As much as the rest of the nation may wish to cast California adrift, we are invested in the prosperity of the Golden State and will share in the hard times as well as we shared the boom times.
Across the board, I favor progressive taxes over regressive taxes – where those who can afford more, pay more.
That’s the real difference on taxes between Democrats and Republicans.