When It Comes to Raising Taxes

Filed under: United States — Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief on May 9, 2008 @ 10:53 am CEST

Democrats are very creative and innovative: ‘As state leaders hunt for politically palatable solutions to the swelling budget shortfall, some Democrats are proposing unorthodox ways to generate cash. Strip clubs, six-packs, grocery bags and iTunes downloads are all in their sights as alternatives to broad income or sales tax hikes. So are gas guzzlers and yachts — and a tax loophole for criminals.’

In case you’re wondering: no, this article is not a joke. They’re actually considering taxing the products mentioned above.

Despite tough odds of overcoming an oath signed by their Republican colleagues to stop any tax hikes, Democratic lawmakers seem confident that their ideas will carry the day. They predict the public won’t stand for painful cuts to schools and healthcare to close a shortfall the governor now pegs as high as $20 billion, and say anti-tax forces will ultimately have to accept that more revenue is needed to bring the state into the black.

GOP lawmakers say the majority party simply has an insatiable appetite for taking money from Californians. The California Republican Party recently released an Internet video, set to the O’Jays’ “For the Love of Money,” in which the tax ideas float across the screen after footage of Senate leader Don Perata (D-Oakland) telling the media in March his prescription for balancing the budget: “Raise taxes. That clear enough? Raise taxes.”

Almost all of the Democrats’ ideas are being met with some degree of scorn.

“Some people are e-mailing, threatening to come and slug me,” said Assemblyman Jim Beall (D-San Jose), who hopes to see a $1.80 tax added to the price of every six-pack of beer sold in the state. “We’re getting some pretty nasty comments.”

No kidding. You’re getting nasty comments, only because you found new and clever ways to steal money from people? How dare they get upset about that?

Here’s an idea for Democrats: stop spending, morons.

”If we don’t do some of these things, we are going to have to cut nearly $5 billion out of schools,” said Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Montebello), chairman of the Revenue and Taxation Committee. He has proposed some of the Legislature’s more unconventional measures, including taxes on digital downloads and adult entertainment.

Hey, about this: you guys are reasponsible for this mess because you’re spending like a drunk woman on a shopping spree. Instead of asking your husband to take on yet another creditcard, how about spending less? It is called taking responsibility.

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1 Rudi666

May 9, 2008 @ 4:08 pm CEST

Both Republicans and Democrats raise fees and claim they don’t raise taxes.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/330/

Not willing to concede the True Tax Conservative mantle to Mitt Romney, John McCain reiterated in a Jan. 30, 2008, debate a claim he has made frequently about Romney’s tax record as governor of Massachusetts. “His (Romney’s) record was that he raised taxes by $730-million,” McCain said. Bill Clinton once famously said, “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” Here, it depends upon what the meaning of “taxes” is. Romney says he never raised taxes. And in fact, he never raised the state income tax or sales tax rates as governor of Massachusetts. We addressed a related claim by Romney in a TV ad here. But he did raise “fees.” And he did make changes to tax codes to close “loopholes” that resulted in some businesses having to pay more taxes.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=crist+raise+fees&btnG=Searchhttp://www.sptimes.com/2007/06/28/State/Crist_allows_higher_t.shtml

Crist allows higher tuition

Unless other funds surface, USF, FSU and UF could charge more than other schools.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published June 28, 2007 ADVERTISEMENT document.write(apVideoHed); U.S. News Video var ap = new SWFObject(”http://img.video.ap.org/p/s/sm_hz_3thumb_scroll.swf”, “sm_hz_3thumb_scroll”, “280″, “100″, “7″); ap.addParam(”quality”, “best”); ap.addParam(”bgcolor”, “#ffffff”); ap.addVariable(”cat”, apVideoType); ap.addVariable(”pid”, “FLPET”); ap.addVariable(”fontcolor”, “0×336699″); ap.write(”flashcontent”); TALLAHASSEE - In a surprising about-face, Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday signed legislation allowing Florida’s three top research universities to charge more in undergraduate tuition than their state peers.

Raising fees/taxes by X amount is still a raising of financial burdens on tax payers. Florida doesn’t have a state income tax, but it’s sales tax is very high. Kinda of like the Canada/Europe model of GST.

2 C Stanley

May 9, 2008 @ 4:14 pm CEST

you guys are reasponsible for this mess because you’re spending like a drunk woman on a shopping spree. Instead of asking your husband to take on yet another creditcard

I don’t think of myself as being overly sensitive to sexism, but I think you could have found a better analogy there, Michael LOL!

Hey Rudi- did Secret Squirrel find any acorns in that qando piece about infant mortality stats? (sorry for going OT here.)

3 Rudi666

May 9, 2008 @ 4:22 pm CEST

Been away from the Internets for a couple of days, will check on it later, I have to report to my masters first {so I can squeal like Ned Beatty :-) }.