Think you’re taxed enough? Sacramento sure doesn’t. State lawmakers have proposed $16 billion in higher tax and fees so far this year, according to the California Tax Foundation.
While many of the proposals stalled or died in committee, CalTax notes, “Notable measures still under consideration include fees for homebuilders, authorization for initiatives to increase taxes in transportation districts, and authorization for higher sales taxes in the San Francisco, San Mateo, Monterey and San Luis Obispo areas.”
Californians are among the highest taxed Americans, with Proposition 13 constraining what governments would do if it were any easier to raise property taxes. Thanks to money-hungry special interests and spendthrift leaders, Californians pay among the highest corporate, sales, gas and income taxes in the nation.
It is apparent that many Californians have reached a breaking point.
In June, the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California reported that 55% of Californians, if given a choice, would rather pay fewer taxes and get less services than pay more in taxes and get more services. While a majority of Democrats would opt for higher taxes, 62% of independents and 86% of Republicans would choose lower taxes and less government services.
This follows a survey from PPIC two years ago in which 70% of Californians said they believed they paid more in state and taxes than they should.
And yet, many in Sacramento continue to believe that the state’s solutions demand more and higher taxes and fees on highly taxed Californians. This is unsurprising given the makeup of the Legislature, with a Democratic supermajority backed by various special interests, especially public sector unions, eager to raid public coffers whenever possible.
One of the more remarkable tax proposals of the year was Senate Bill 789, from Sen. Caroline Menjivar of Los Angeles, which sought to impose a $5 per square foot tax on commercial properties that are vacant. While the bill later was watered down to require commercial property owners to tell the government “whether any buildings or portions of buildings were vacant in the previous calendar year.” The bill ultimately failed to advance. It did clear the Senate’s Revenue and Taxation Committee, however.
Californians must continue to make clear to their elected state representatives that they will not support additional tax increases. The state of California collects more than enough tax revenue to do what must be done, but routinely chooses to do the wrong thing out of political expediency.
If more and higher taxes were the solution to our problems, California would be a utopia by now. Alas, we live in the real world and in the real world, more and higher taxes punish and stifle more than they solve and fix. We need state leaders to spend within their means and make smart choices for a change.
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