Posted on 09/22/2006 12:10:34 PM PDT by calcowgirl
The writer is an attorney and president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
Now that football season has begun, optimistic fans dream of winning the big game and a world championship. Coaches devise game plans that will keep the opposing team off balance and maximize their chances of victory. For the unlucky teams who don’t have the best talent, deception and misdirection plays are the only chance they have to succeed.
The same is true in the California Legislature. The beginning of games on the gridiron also signals the end of games under the Capitol dome, where politicians seek to gain advantage with creative scheming and an assortment of trick plays. The legislative “end run” is one of the most popular tactics in the political playbook. One egregious example is the recent passage of a half-billion dollar container tax.
The bill, which would amount to a massive new consumer tax, now sits on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk, awaiting a swift veto by a leader who has rightly stood firm against all new taxes.
Senate Bill 927, authored by State Senator Alan Lowenthal attempts an end run around the people of California, Proposition 13 and the Constitution. How so? The purpose of this bill is to impose a “fee” on every shipping container off-loaded in the Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports. Revenue from the fund would, ostensibly, be used to improve the rail system, enhance port security and mitigate the environmental pollution which results from the transport of these containers.
But is this new levy really a “fee” with a close connection between the fee payer and the regulatory program sought to be financed? Of course not. This is just another transparent attempt by government to collect more revenue just because it can.
The real clue that this proposed “fee” is a tax is clear from the language of the bill itself. In order to qualify as a true fee, we have to know, with some specificity, what it is that the fee will be paying for. General categories of expenditure are not sufficient and strongly suggest that the money will disappear into the various black holes of government bureaucracies.
In this case, it is even worse. Various agencies are tasked to come up with lists of projects that should be funded. This is backwards. In order to qualify as a true fee, the projects should be known in advance. That way, the legitimacy of the fee can be tested against the actual government programs or improvements sought to be financed. Excuse us if we don’t trust government, but when it comes to legitimate “fees” government has a horrible track record.
Supporters of the new tax return to the argument that more revenue is needed to increase safety at ports and build new infrastructure to keep goods moving. If that is true, then why not simply follow the law which requires that new taxes be voted on by the people? Tax increases have been approved by voters throughout California including conservative Orange County to liberal San Francisco. The people of California are smart and have demonstrated their willingness to invest when there is a need. Container tax proponents should have a greater trust in the people and a willingness to make the case that their proposal is needed and appropriate.
Unfortunately, a straightforward approach is no longer the way state and local politicians play the game. Over the past five years, the California Legislature and local government have tried to raise more than $7 billion in new taxes using creative strategies like the legislative end run.
The good news is that the Governor has already affirmed his opposition to new taxes and underscored his commitment to protecting jobs and the economy. He has zealously promoted California agriculture to the world. If this measure becomes law, California’s economic competitiveness would be damaged as other ports in competing states and countries would immediately capitalize on the increased transportation costs of doing business with California. Meanwhile, the precedent established by passing an illegal tax would open the door to new taxes of all kinds, passed without a vote of the people. Indeed new supposed “fees” have already been proposed on just about everything imaginable — on phone bills, electric bills, beer, bottled water, wine, soda, diapers, prescription drugs, health care facilities, bicycles and groceries (even on grocery bags themselves)!
The Legislature has failed to call a tax a tax. Senate Bill 927’s “user fee” is a tax — and not an insignificant one either. It should be spiked by Governor Schwarzenegger before it can harm California families who deserve better.
There are no fees, fines, penalties or tolls. They are all taxes.
09/22/2006 GAAS:657:06 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
In Weekly Radio Address, Gov. Schwarzenegger Announces Veto of $700 Million in Fees, Billions in Government Mandates
Reaffirming his belief that Californians are best served by holding the line on taxes and fees in order to stimulate economic growth, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation that would have cost the people of California $700 million in fees and a universal health care measure that would have made health care less affordable and cost billions in government mandates.
“I vetoed a series of bills that would have imposed more than $700 million in new fees and taxes on Californians,” said Gov. Schwarzenegger in his weekly radio address. “The people in our state are best served by actions that stimulate economic growth. That means putting more money back into the people’s pockets and improving our state’s business climate so we can create more jobs and make the right investments in our infrastructure.”’
Within the first hour of taking his oath of office, the Governor reversed the car tax increase and returned $4 billion to the people. Since then, he has fought every effort to raise taxes including efforts to gut California’s landmark Prop. 13 which protects homeowners from losing their homes to skyrocketing property taxes and opposed efforts to make it easier for the legislature to raise taxes.
Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed the following seven bills with fees totaling more than $700 million:
SB 927 by Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) imposes a fee on containers that are discharged at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. ($414 million) Click here for veto message.
SB 1225 by Senator Wes Chesbro (D-Arcata) allows counties with abandoned vehicle abatement service authorities to impose additional surcharges. ($18 million) Click here for veto message.
AB 770 by Assemblymember Gene Mullin (D-South San Francisco) would impose a biennial association fee on common interest development associations to fund the Office of the Common Interest Development Ombudsperson. ($24 million) Click here for veto message.
AB 799 by Assemblymember Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) authorizes the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco to place a measure on the ballot to impose a vehicle license fee (VLF) on vehicles registered in San Francisco. ($75 million) Click here for veto message.
AB 2444 by Assemblymember Johan Klehs (D-San Leandro) authorizes a Bay Area county transportation agency to levy a fee on vehicles. The fee may be levied at an amount of up to $5 per vehicle. ($55 million) Click here for veto message.
AB 2681 by Assemblymember Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) allows counties to increase the annual registration surcharges that fund abandoned vehicle abatement programs, and increases the fine imposed for "fix-it" tickets. Click here for veto message.
AB 2838 by Assemblymember Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) allows the Coastal Environmental Motor Vehicle Mitigation Account (Account) established under the State Coastal Conservancy Fund of 1984 to request that DMV collect a fee of up to six dollars upon a vehicle's new or renewed registration for vehicles registered in participating counties after at least five coastal counties elect to participate in the Coastal Environmental Motor Vehicle Mitigation Program. ($115 million) Click here for veto message.
... and then turned around and asked the electorate to approve $15B in borrowing, against existing constitutional protections, to make up for the deficit he created by reinstating a General Fund subsidy, at a time the state was spending more than it took.
His initial and subsequent actions, derived from his election grandstanding, cost California's taxpayers about $15B, with a B, in additional taxes, to meet the interest obligations on the $15B note.
Today his office brags about saving the tax payers $700M but conveniently forgets about the $15B. In fact, the Austrian would have to remain in office for over 20 years to reimburse the taxpayers for the increase in taxes he created, during his first day in office, if he continued shielding the taxpayers from $700M in annual tax increases.
Get rid of this liberal!
The $43 billion of bond propositions he is pushing will result in over $41 billion in interest alone. Add the prison bonds he proposed and you're pushing $50 billion in interest.
I'm all for purging the liberals from Sacramento, no matter the party label.
I sometimes wonder whether the average loyalist who haunts these halls even understands the math, let alone the implications.
In their child like minds they see a public good or an object that meets their personal needs and their state income tax rates aren't rising.
Never once does it cross these tiny minds that if it weren't for Schwarzenegger's large tax increases, their state income taxes, sales taxes, and user fees would go down, even with justifiable, annual increases in General Fund expenditures to pay for infrastructure improvements.
Just Win, Baby!
DON'T sweat the details!
And the sooner the better.
I think they understand the math, and the implications perfectly well.
They are, however, counting on everyone else not understanding.
Fortunately, that dog don't hunt!
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