Soaking the rich - Burton seeks tax hike on so-called wealthy

Union-Tribune ^ | January 15, 2004 | Union-Tribune Editorial

[calcowgirl]

'We have people making half a million a year after deductions, taxable income. If you have to come up with another two, three or four hundred dollars, you can afford it. Basically, what people would be paying for is a just society."

That's the world according to Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco. He suggests wealthier Californians are contributing too little to the state treasury. He proposes that the Legislature slap them with higher taxes, rather than accept Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed spending cuts.

But the notion advanced by Burton that the state's higher-income residents are not paying their fair share of taxes is just a canard. It is part of a cynical ploy to build public support for higher taxes, rather than budget cuts, allowing Burton and his fellow Democrats to continue spending money the state does not have.

The fact is, higher-income Californians pay a disproportionate share of the state's bills. Indeed, while residents with adjusted gross incomes of $100,000 or more constituted only 11 percent of tax returns in 2001, according to a recent report by the Franchise Tax Board, they accounted for a full 75 percent of the state's income tax revenue.

And as to those making a half-million dollars or more, for whom Burton seems to have so much contempt, they accounted for less than 1 percent of returns in 2001, yet they paid a whopping 34 percent of the state's income taxes.

The Senate Democrat leader, whom The San Jose Mercury News characterized this week as "the Legislature's most outspoken liberal," flippantly suggests that those earning $500,000 a year or more could easily afford another $200 or $300 or $400 in taxes.

The implication is that those 80,000 or so taxpayers do not work as hard to earn their money as Californians further down the income scale. Thus, it is OK for the state to jack up their tax rates, to hit them up for an extra $2 billion to $3 billion a year.

But most of those whom Burton has targeted for tax hikes are not members of the proverbial "idle rich." Most do not owe their yearly incomes to inheritances or lottery winnings or some other windfall. In fact, many are small business owners who pay taxes not through the corporate income tax, but through the personal income tax.

So when Burton and other tax-and-spend Democrats propose to sock it to those making "half a million a year," to pay for Burton's so-called "just society," they really are talking about hiking taxes on small businesses – as if the cost of doing business in California isn't already high enough.

The perverse thing of it all is that the Burton tax hike almost certainly would yield less revenue than he expects. Indeed, in 1991, the Legislature added 10 percent and 11 percent tax brackets for upper-income filers on a temporary basis, expecting to generate $1.2 billion a year in additional revenue. As it turned out, collections were little more than half that.

It is for Burton to make a solid economic case for a tax hike on California's wealthy. That is why he is resorting to class warfare rhetoric to sell his proposal.

[Myrddin]

Sorry, I've just redefined "super rich". You have a house. We'll be by shortly. Mao defined "rich" farmers as people with more than one animal. How dare you own a house or any property. That is counter to reasonable ideology. We need resources and we shall have 50% of everything you own.

[Fledermaus]

ROFL, this is the reason California is in the fiscal mess they are in.

High income people left the state due to high tax rates while more and more lower income people came into the state. This lowers the taxable income base while the socialists services go up in supply to the lower income people that keep arriving due to generous benefits.

It's simple arithmetic.

[calcowgirl]

Make the uber rich socialists pay more! I want to see taxes ramped up on them so they never come back to California!

Perhaps they can start with the Kennedy trust fund... ;-)

[Kozak]

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over a loss of fiscal responsibility, always followed by a dictatorship. The average of the world's great civilizations before they decline has been 200 years. These nations have progressed in this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back again to bondage."

Written by Alexander Fraser Tytler in "The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic" 1776.

[calcowgirl]

Yep. That would explain why Warren Buffet has a house in Laguna Beach and calls Omaha home. Or why so many professional athletes take up residence in Florida. Businesses flee California... and so do the taxpaying wealthy.

[Howlin]

What I love is when people who don't own property get to vote on property taxes.

[Fledermaus]

Professional athletes know what states don't have an income tax.

That's why NFL teams like to play on the road against the Titans, Cowboys, Texans, Jaguars, Bucs, Dolphins, etc.

These states don't have income taxes.

[Myrddin]

Discounting any deductions, my Idaho state income tax will be almost $1100 higher than if I was still in California. My property tax is around $3,000 vs around $1,500 at the old house in California. My wife is making only half as much annually as well. Idaho sales tax is lower and the difference in outlay over the last year saved me far more that the higher state income tax and property tax. The real cost of goods is far cheaper in Idaho as well. California merchants have to factor in the higher cost of disability insurance and stupid regulations relating to milk production and gasoline manufacturing standards.

In 2000, a cost of living calculator placed a California employee making $108,000 annually as equivalent in real earnings to a Pocatello, Idaho employee making $70,000.

[Fledermaus]

I'm surprised Idaho has a large income tax. The property tax I understand because your old house in California was probably covered under Prop 13 (I'm guessing).

That must be some sales tax difference to cover those other taxes, but you hit the nail on the head when it comes to cost of living, the real measure.

[Myrddin]

My Idaho state income tax is $7249 + 7.8% of the amount over $100,000. California is $3445 + 9.3% of the amount over $78,266 for 2003.

I just tried out the current cost of living calculator to compare my current city in Idaho to San Diego, CA. A San Diego resident making $100,000 in 2003 can live as comfortably on $53,000 in Pocatello, ID.

The feds essentially let you take the state income tax off your AGI, so the extra I have to pay to Idaho comes off to some extent on the federal return.

Idaho sales tax is 6% this year. It was only 5% when I first arrived. I was paying 7.75% in San Diego. I bought a truck last year. $19,000+tax. My sales tax was almost 2% lower against $19,000. My registration was only $56 compared to a likely assessment over $500 from the CA DMV based on value. I have 3 vehicles with car insurance rates that are cumulatively less than a single vehicle cost me when I had it parked at my parent's home in Chula Vista. Much lower rates of theft and vandalism compared with being next to the Mexican border.

[Fledermaus]

Yeah, those high tax states really gouge you on car registration and licenes.

We pay 9.25% sales tax in Tenn (1% is "temporary" but they said that in 1990 about the .5% that increased it from 7.75 to 8.25 and is still being charged...of course, "for the children").

But everything else is really cheap and the cost of living is low. As usual, it depends on where you want to live and pay for a home or rent.

My parents moved us away from Ojai, CA in 1970 when they couldn't afford to rent or buy any longer due to the high property taxes.

[Myrddin]

The 1334 sq ft house I purchased in San Diego for $105,000 in 1983 would sell for $380,000 today. The neighborhood shifted to more renters than owners. The renters included lots of gangbangers. I had intended to retire in that house and I put $9500 into a 50 year roof in 1999. I wouldn't live in the neighborhood now. I was thrilled to sell it for $242,000 in Feb 2001.

The house is Idaho is 3,900 sq ft. I purchased it for $179K in October 2000. I own it free and clear. We just have to put aside $300/month to cover annual taxes and insurance. Not a bad trade. The neighborhood is very nice and 100% owner occupied. Most of us are in the 45-60 age range. The lower cost of living here makes it reasonable to achieve being totally debt free soon and have time to put away a comfortable retirement.

[Fledermaus]

Well done!

[Jimbaugh]

What section of town did you live in San Diego? I am still here fighting the good fight but I may be leaving soon.

[wayoverontheright]

Bumper sticker: Tax increases help the economy like withdrawals help your bank account.

[Myrddin]

I was in Mira Mesa. The nearest cross streets to the old house are Mira Mesa Blvd and Parkdale Ave. Mira Mesa Blvd is a noisy parking lot from 6:30 AM until 9:00 AM M-F. The noise resumes around 3:30 PM and continues through about 8:00 PM. After that, the dominant noise is street racers peeling out in the westbound direction. That is fair game from 10 PM to 5 AM.

I do miss some things about San Diego. Hedgecock on the radio. The 5-mile road around Miramar Lake for speed skating (closed since 9-11-2001). Good Thai, Vietnamese and Mexican restaurants. Big bookstores like Borders, Barnes & Noble, BookStar and San Diego Technical Books. The cut-throat competition in PC parts stores. My indoor shooting range. In short, there are few amenities that I miss. Most of them can be replaced by internet connections to KOGO, the Amazon and Barnes & Noble online web sites, and my own asian cooking at home. Access to the lake would be missed whether I was in San Diego or not.