Posted on 01/15/2017 9:58:11 AM PST by Jim Robinson
Despite tax collection increasing by 50 percent in the last 9 years, Californias public pension insolvency is forcing Gov. Jerry Brown to propose a dangerously unpopular 42 percent increase in gasoline taxes and a 141 percent increase in vehicle registration fees. Breitbart News reported on January 9 that Gov. Brown announced that for the first time since 2012, Californias $122.8 billion General Fund Budget is in deficit by $1.6 billion. Despite a near bankruptcy during the financial crisis, Californias tax revenues have increased by about $43 billion in the last 9 years. Brown on Monday only suggested relatively painless spending reductions to close the budget gap. He was very careful to not suggest highly controversial increases in gasoline tax or vehicle fees.
Democrat governors have been regularly spiking gas taxes and vehicle registration fees for decades. But 12 years ago, Democrat Gov. Gray Davis was recalled by voters after he pushed the state legislature to pass a vehicle registration fee increase from $46 to $158.
The legislature cancelled the increase and Democrats have avoided gas and vehicle increases since. When the Assembly tried to revive a gasoline tax last year, the issue was dropped after polls showed 63 percent voter opposed any increase.
Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger destroyed his popularity by pushing through the Proposition 1-A high-speed rail initiative in 2008 that added about 11 cents a gallon to the price of gasoline for a project now referred to by Bloomberg News as a fiasco.
Gov. Browns willingness to try raising gasoline taxes by 17 cents a gallon, and on vehicle registration fees by $65, is a sign of the insolvency risk from the exploding cost of California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) public pensions. Browns draft 2017-2018 budget already includes a $524 million increase for the public pension...
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
That Federal Judge that struck down Proposition 187 20+ years ago, was intended to greatly alter California and have it become the liberal, free-loading state, that it is.
It blows my mind that Reagan’s California became this wacko leadership paradise so fast.
Deja vu all over again.. ??
‘Gray’ Days ahead?
Apparently, the boiling frog is having trouble deciding to jump out of the pot. They need to turn up the taxes to solar temperatures. I’m for every tax they can think of. Tax breathing!
How about a 1000% increase in the cost of Illegal Alien DL’s there Moonbeam ?
And every time you turn around, more benefits are being extended to illegals in CA.
California- highest taxes in the nation. And they are still broke. Maybe they should cancel the bullet-train-to-nowhere and not perform sex-change operations on convicted murderers.
Just another example of what happens when Democrats run a state, city, or school program.
GREAT!
let Cally’s pay their own bills.
Better than having the other 49 cover their butts
Which is what I fear is going to happen
Let’s encourage Monsieur Le Gouverneur to pass tax after tax after tax. It’s all good.
And while we’re at it, let’s work up some fake internet polls to show the vast majority of Californistas want some green from dem taxes.
Make sure dem taxes are for the children too.
Won’t this hurt the “poor?”
Screw Jerry Brown
California is broke.
The CalPERS cow has mastitis.
You chose poorly, grasshopper.
Government - its organs, its power and above all its employees are one of the major foundations of the Left. They must be protected at all costs.
and I thought California’s success was supposed to provide a model for the rest of the nation.
Once again, the proposition that a governmental unit can “tax the people back into prosperity” is going to be tested. And the answer will always be the same - it shall fail. The taxes get so onerous there is widespread evasion and avoidance, and in doing so, the very engines that drive prosperity are stalled out, some never to restart.
No matter how many times or how many ways it is tried, compulsion and coercion to pay exorbitant tax rates always ends up the same way - declaration of bankruptcy, whether individually or as a much larger entity.
And with President-Elect Trump cutting off all Federal assistance to communities that insist on retaining their status of “sanctuary cities”, the worst may yet be coming.
Some “social” programs are simply not worth it.
It appears the dem CA majority populace luvs the party, but doesn't want to spend money their pols do.
LOL
The big problems are: too generous benefits and assuming rates of return on plan assets averages 7 to 10% a year forever.
And yes the solution: 401 k type plans for all state employees, teachers, and professors, and participation in social security if not already covered.
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