The “easy” but cowardly solution is to cut programs for the disabled and elderly. I sit on a committee for aging in the County and what this will do is force many poor elderly out of their homes and into nursing homes at the public’s expense.
Another favorite target is poor rural Counties. If you bankrupt a General Law County, the state will end up holding the bag.
We need to look at our regulatory situation. Regulations, particularly endangered species, land, air and water, are so stringent that businesses are moving out of the state in droves. It costs hundreds of times more and takes many months more time to get a permit to log in California than it does in “Green” Oregon.
We create enormous bureaucracies, such as the regional water boards, and march out a steady stream of land use policies such as Total Maximum Daily Loads, and Riparian and Wetlands policies and sediment policies. This requires the hiring of dozens of new staff to enforce. Let’s start cutting there.
Look at the Gov.’s Global Warming Initiative. Do we need to rip out every diesel engine and retrofit or replace it? Do we need to implement regional “smart growth” policies oin land use? Do we really need to choke our citizenry in so much expensive red tape and build these gigantic permit systems and bureaucracies?
Increasing the sales tax is business death to border counties. Oregon pays NO sales tax. How many people are going to shop in California if they are anywhere near another state’s border?
It's already begun. Property tax relief for the disabled and elderly was quietly eliminated in the October 2008 Budget vote. Source: CA FTB