Analysis: Victorious governor's not home free

If voters had turned down Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's two propositions to help get the state's battered budget back on track, there would have been a chorus of critics questioning his much-repeated pledge to take pet issues directly to the public.

Do you live in California? After being born in L.A. and living around the southland for most of my life, I finally moved out in 2002, when me and my wife and kids made the move to England (really long story).

All the news from my home state now comes second hand from my friends, FreeRepublic and Fox news. I swear I don't believe what is going on when I hear some stories.

I have some friends who are also moving out of the state, but they tell me that, if you are selling your home to move out of California, the state of California is keeping 40% of the proceeds of the sale of the home for a year. And, if you sell a second home to move out of the state, the state of California is keeping 100% of the proceeds for a year.

Please tell me that my friend has it all wrong somehow. Certainly no state in the Union would do that to its citzens. Right?

pony

Those numbers are way off, I believe it's a 3 and 1/3 % "impounded fee" on the sale of a residential property, you get it back after a year.

Of course, the state gets all the interest during that time, and they get a lot of fees and taxes anyway on the sale of the house... and Yes, they do do this to people these days in California..

Sorry to see you left ,, please take a few illegals with you too. ;-}

"The important thing, though, the untold story, is that voters really did find the bipartisan support on this to be extremely important. A Republican governor and a Democratic Legislature working together have just produced a major achievement."

Bipartisan major achievement = Stupid AND Evil, huge government expenditure borne by California's kids.

One question: how come 'bipartisan accomplishment' never, ever, gets attached to any law that means government is shrinking?

But that fee is only for second homes - correct?

I don't think it refers to your primary residence or I would have thought we'd see an impact on real estate prices, which (in Los Angeles county, anyway) appear to be continuing to go straight up, even after I bought my house. (I was, of course, expecting them to collapse about five minutes after my purchase).

It's a strange feeling knowing your house is probably worth $50k more than you paid for it, within two months of purchase. I bought with nothing down and already have equity.

D

Those numbers are way off, I believe it's a 3 and 1/3 % "impounded fee" on the sale of a residential property, you get it back after a year.

So, they do retain for a year something of what you get though. I thought 40% was outrageous, but maybe they said 4% and I just misheard.

Of course, the state gets all the interest during that time, and they get a lot of fees and taxes anyway on the sale of the house... and Yes, they do do this to people these days in California..

That's still sort of shocking though. The American colonies fought for independence under the slogan taxation without representation is tyranny. Only to come to find that taxation WITH representation ain't so hot either. *sighs*

Sorry to see you left ,, please take a few illegals with you too. ;-}

Dude, if we ever come back (big if...) then we are coming back as illegals. My wife is English. We started the process for her to come into the country in January 1995, and we were married in California in September of 1995. When we left in January 2002, after SEVEN YEARS of screwing around with the INS, with an immigration lawyer and all, my wife still did not have her green card. Neither of us ever had any criminal records, not even traffic tickets, I served in the military when I was younger, there was nothing about either one of us that held up the process. It was just that, after SEVEN YEARS, the INS still couldn't get their act together. I got stories that would make you want to spit.

Enter into the country illegally, then goof off, loaf around on the governments dime and still be in exactly the same position as people who struggle and sweat to try to do the right thing? Sounds good to me, mate.

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