Posted on 08/11/2012 8:24:13 AM PDT by OneVike
California Democrats joined Jerry Brown in passing an illegal fire fee for every habitable structure found on a land owners property. Most Californians were under the belief that fire protection was a basic government service? Well, not if you are a Democrat.
The unusual fire charge for rural areas, was pushed through by Gov. Jerry Brown, and styled as a fee and not a tax to avoid a ballot measure requiring a two-thirds vote of approval. Called "The State Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Benefit Fee", it was signed into law last year. The law requires homeowners in designated fire-prone areas to pay an annual fee of $150 for each habitable structure on a parcel. A $35 discount applies to properties that are already protected by an organized fire agency.
If you believe in the rule of law, then you must agree with Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, who calls this an illegal tax. Republican Senator George Runner who's with the "Board of Equalization" says this is being done to pay the ongoing infrastructure for "Cal Fire". He claims that the fee paid by a homeowner may not even benefit the homeowners paying the fee, and therefore it is a tax. Well Coupal and Runner are being polite, because as far as I'm concerned, this is just scheme by Jerry Brown and the Democrats to get around Proposition 13, to collect money for the purpose of shoveling it to their Union buddies. One could also argue that it's being done on the backs of Californians who overwhelmingly vote Republican.
The Democrats and Jerry brown may claim this is just a "fire prevention fee" to help fires, but the truth is that the millions collected will just end up being used to fund Cal-FIRE's existing bureaucracy rather than expand the state's fire prevention efforts. What we have here is just another example of Democrats using the government to tax the people who never voted for them. Rural Californians vote Republicans, and it is Republican voters who are getting hit with this illegal tax. A tax by the way that will not benefit them because the money will never be used to help local agencies nor be used to prevent wildland fires at the local level.
If the Democrats are serious about preventing fires, then let the citizens of rural California start chopping trees down in areas that are fire prone. Then the areas will get cleared and when the trees do burn they will be burned in controlled containers called fire places and wood stoves to warm the homes in the winter. I get tired of watching all that good firewood burning during on a hot summer day, when it could be put to good use.
I am heartened by the Republicans plan to fight this illegal law. There are two arguments the Republicans can use. One is to fight it on the grounds that the fee is actually a tax, which would means it requires a 2/3rds majority for passage, not a simple majority. The second way is to use the fact that it unfairly taxes residents twice, because many already pay their counties for the fire services.
Remember, while Jerry brown is in the process of closing state parks to save money, he and the Democrats have found a way to tax the voters who do not vote for them by leveling this fee on rural Californians. All this at a time when it has been revealed that the State parks dept has $54 million in hidden funds no one knew about until just recently. To make it even worse we also just learned that the state owes almost 7 billion to retired teachers for benefits normal Californians will never enjoy. I think it is time that all Californians wake up to the stench that is the Democrat party that rules the roost of California politics.
This article has been presented in full, so there is no need
to visit my site. However, a complimentary hit and maybe
a comment if you so desire would not be looked down upon.
This illegal tax in California on the rural citizens who overwhelmingly vote Republican is just another shot by the Democrats to take down those they disagree with. They have no qualms about destroying the citizens who vote against them.
Look who always gets hit with the burden of paying for the programs and tax hikes the left conjures up. It is those who traditionally vote Republican, the white working middle white class. These people of the Democrat party are evil, and they need to be voted out, or one day there will be blood in the streets.
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John Roberts will take care of the conversion for him.
We lived out in the country (fire-prone country) and had 4 buildings on our property (3 were habitable, but they could probably decide that the horse barn was habitable, too, and tax us for that). Thank God, I no longer live in California!
Ping for interest.
Dhimmi jizya.
My county has a notice about this fee on it’s web site.
There is a link to the corresponding State web site with more information and a map to see the areas affected.
www.firepreventionfee.org.
Near as I can tell I’m will be getting hit with this but haven’t received anything yet.
Every one of you who won't vote for Romney will be a party to the dissolution of America as we knew it.He went a long way in convincing us to by picking Ryan as his VP. A very smart move politically. It is what Reagan did by uniting the party with Bush's choice as his VIP. He gets conservatives to back him, and he locks up Wisconsin while also influencing the vote of Minnesotans.
I and my neighbors received our notice in the mail yesterday. Thus the reason for me writing the article.
How is this any different from McCain/Palin?
Conservatives are just going to get screwed over again. Conservatives need to be at the front, not the back of the ticket.
Great everyone will think I meant it to say gay as a play on words.
It is what it is. Besides, I have a running $1000,00 bet that Romney wins going away.
Up until now I was not going to vote for the presidential spot, only down ticket.
Now I am more inclined to support him.
Either way, Romney was going to win. If you doubt me, then take me up on my bet!
Yea sure. And that worked so well for mclame? I voted for Sarah Palin and all I got was a turd for *resident! lol
I’d love to, but I don’t have that much money. It would be irresponsible for me to take you up when I don’t have a way to make sure you’re covered. :(
It just reminds me of a sad rerun of 4 years ago - I remember how excited I was with Palin, and then the McCain campaign stabbed her in the back and blamed her for the loss.
Having a conservative here - if they lose - they’ll scapegoat Ryan just like they did with Palin.
I just thought it was a CA “Gay”-dar alert.
:-)
Who else can they tax? Illegals? Welfare recipients? They can only tax people with some actual assets.
I guess California will wind up like Detroit on a massive scale. People will vote with their feet, and leave.
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