INGA BARKS: Don't give Sacramento more money to squander
| Friday, Mar 18 2011 10:57 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 18 2011 10:57 PM
God forbid your stockbroker ever calls you to report that he lost all your money investing in a car called the Edsel II. But if he did, would you give him more of your nest egg? What if your precious child came to you and told you that she spent her lunch money on gummy bears? Would you break out the wallet and replenish her account? If you're sane you'd fire the broker, and show your precious child where you keep the lunch sacks!
But what if your lawmaker admits to you that he squandered your tax dollars on magic beans and not only lost your money, but also is knee deep in debt and needs a cut of your kid's college fund to break even. Would you say yes? A new poll says more than half of you would!
The responses given to the newest Field Poll say that 58 percent of registered voters in California would vote to give the state a five-year extension on the 2009 tax increases on income, car registration, sales and gas. A tax extension we refused to give the last governor when he merely asked for two more years. I had no idea we have so much expendable income. Did you?
The 2009 tax increases were an effort to shore up a deficit that the state legislative analyst said was more than $20 billion. The legislators who supported the tax increase (including local state Sen. Roy Ashburn and five other Republicans who broke ranks) said the taxes were a necessity to prevent the state from going over a cliff. The follow-up ballot measure, proposition 1A to extend those taxes for just two more years, went down in flames with 64 percent of Californians rejecting it. Now, two years later, with unemployment higher than it was in 2009, gas more expensive than it was in 2009, cars more costly than 2009, and the price of everything from food to underwear more expensive than in 2009, the majority of Californians think that a continuation of those taxes will suddenly keep us from going off a cliff from which we've already nose dived.
If anything proves the theory that higher taxes and further regulations do NOT fix a deficit, the 2009 tax increases are the textbook case! Taxes went up and education is still at risk. Police and fire are still in peril, the poor and disabled are still needy, and your local and state lawmakers are still claiming that they are strapped for cash! And they can't blame the current economy because California's deficit problem started a decade ago when Gray Davis was still in office. So why now? Why do the majority of voters who just two years ago said "No" to higher taxes support a tax extension now?
I'll take a stab. I think it's twofold. First, we fear cuts to sacred cow programs in California like education. And the education lobby loves us for it. Problem is, education in California takes up nearly half the entire budget for the state. The other half covers roads, cops, hospitals, prisons, healthcare and tending to the disabled and poor (to name a few). Truth be told, the 2009 tax increases did nothing to stop the hue and cry from the education lobby about teacher layoffs and children being without school supplies. They continued to demand more.
But according to 30th Assembly member David Valadao, the cuts to education are a trick. "The legislature votes to cut $2.2 billion from education, knowing that the payment is merely being postponed for a few months. It's not a cut. But so long as it looks good on paper...." Valadao also mentioned the regulatory agencies that legislators slated for cuts but plan to backfill those agencies' budgets by simply raising fees and fines on California business owners. The second part of my theory is that voters are still in a honeymoon period with Gov. Jerry Brown, so much so that they are willing to ignore the anger they felt at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for tax increases. They want to give the new guy a shot at fixing things. But tax increases (extensions) are not the fix.
History has shown that. Giving Sacramento more money to squander and shuffle around is as foolish as giving that broker more for the Edsel and our children more lunch money. In fact, giving lawmakers more money for those magic beans is even worse because that goose with the golden eggs we hope they'll bring home to pay for it all? Is us.
-- Inga Barks, who hosts a talk show on KMJ AM 580, is one of three community columnists whose work appears here every Saturday. These are the opinions of Barks, not necessarily The Californian. You can e-mail her at ibarks@bakersfield.com. Next week: Ric Llewellyn.
