Sign in or 
Location: 2010 California Race Tracker Discussion Forum
Discussion: Saving California.
Category:
Discussion Forum /
General Discussion
Share this
Showing 6 posts
AmericanTB |
Saving California.
Jun 6 2009, 11:04 PM EDT
In case people haven't noticed this state is in some serious financial trouble. Let the results show that our elected officials have failed. It appears we will soon be bankrupt, in addition Californians will have a mountain of debt to pay back. We need to look at the policies and direction that these failed politicians have prescribed to. The state of California is one of the most expensive places to conduct business. As a business owner myself I am speaking from experience. Attracting business creates jobs and generates tax revenue for the state, county and city. California has one of the highest tax burdens on its people, up to 9.6% on your income and up to 10.25% sales tax in some cities. Then take into account property tax, rising DMV fees, taxes and fees on your electric, telephone, cable TV, water and trash bills. The bottom line is we have enough taxes already and more taxes is not the solution. A smaller State Government with a smaller appetite for spending is better. Incentives for business to move or expand here in California because of lower taxes really works. I know the state of Texas has a very large financial surplus, $9.0 billion I believe. California should look at the Texas model and make some changes, we know what doesn't work. Californians need to get informed with the facts and please go vote in 2010, its the only power we have to fix this crisis. Do you find this valuable?
Keyword tags:
2010 election
california
taxes
|
californianintexas |
6. RE: Saving California.
Oct 20 2009, 8:53 PM EDT
Actually, the only taxes businesses have to pay are only on their profits. I got a source from an actual business owner:http://www.seeingtheforest.com/archives/2009/07/republican_myth.htm <quote>I used to own and run a business, and I have some news for Republicans: Businesses only pay taxes on profits. You don't pay taxes unless you are making a profit. Paying taxes means you are making a profit. Making a profit is a good thing, and California businesses pay a small percentage of the profits to the state to help cover the expenses that enabled you to make that profit.</quote> Because of Prop. 13, large corporate property owners enjoy many loopholes that allow them to avoid paying property taxes, so to make up for the lost property tax revenue, small business owners are socked with fees on water, sewage, zoning, etc. when they try to expand. So Prop. 13, supposedly meant to keep senior citizens from being taxed out of their homes, is actually hurting businesses! Do you find this valuable? |
|
californianintexas |
9. RE: Saving California.
Oct 30 2009, 10:19 AM EDT
Here's the rest of my reply, which I had to split to comply with the character limit.As for Texas, where I currently live and plan to leave next June, I work a part-time $8/hour job, with no health insurance, that took me a year to find due to the recession finally coming to Texas, and my being autistic and needing state services, which are severely underfunded, supposedly to make Texas look more "business-attractive". (And my boyfriend who also lives in Texas has been unemployed for 3 years and counting, also needing the severely underfunded state services due to being autistic.) Texas was able to hold off the recession due to oil prices being sky-high. Now that they've crashed back to Earth, they've taken the Texas economy with them. In the month of August, Texas lost more than 62,000 jobs, more than "business-unfriendly" California and Michigan. (And most of the most populous counties here have unemployment rates more on par with the national rate.) The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas issued a report earlier stating Texas entered a recession at the beginning of 2009. No spike in taxes here as far as I've seen. And the Texas surplus has vanished as well thanks to the oil prices falling. Our governor, Rick Perry, reelected in 2006 with 39% of the vote, gladly took stimulus funds from the Feds that he had just railed against, to plug up the deficit. (The Feds also picked up the tab for the cleanup after Hurricane Ike last year, which would have cost Texas its surplus then and then some ($15 billion to clean up vs. $10 billion surplus which has since evaporated).) Do you find this valuable? |
aeroengineer |
10. RE: Saving California.
Nov 1 2009, 2:46 PM EST
| Post edited: Nov 1 2009, 2:51 PM EST
I hate to burst your bubble, californianintexas, but California is a dysfunctional disaster. I moved here 10 years ago for a good job opportunity after previously living in Illinois, Virginia, Maryland, and Arizona. Even though I love the job, my tax burden is 2 to 3 times higher than in any of the other states (income tax, sales tax, property tax, auto registration, etc.). Where does this money go? What is it paying for? I see no better services or higher quality of living for this high tax burden than I did anywhere else I lived. In fact, the road condition, libraries, and public education are generally lower quality than those other states.I must not be alone in my disgust with California's mismanagement judging by the trouble the state is having maintaining its population: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/18/business/fi-leaving-california18 Get ready for California to actually lose at least one seat in Congress after the 2010 census, which I believe must be a first in state history. The problem isn't so much that people are leaving but who is leaving--well-educated, highly-paid professionals and small business owners. Count me among this group as I have a good job where I make over $100,000 a year and I run a small web business on the side, yet I can barely afford to live here any more. Between state and federal income taxes, I've actually had to pay more in taxes on my business than it's even worth over the past 3 years. Despite how much I like my job, I'm seriously considering moving myself. I could get a job paying just as much and perhaps more in Arizona, Texas, Alabama, or Missouri but with a lower cost of living and without having to watch some 10% of my income get sucked into the black hole of Sacramento. Do you find this valuable? |
|
aeroengineer |
11. RE: Saving California.
Nov 1 2009, 2:50 PM EST
Getting back to the original post, can California be saved? Can this cycle of higher taxes, economic collapse, and declining population be turned around? Maybe, but it's going to require a complete reorganization of state government so painful that I don't think any politician is willing to try it. The state needs a new constitution requiring living within its means, reducing the size of bureaucracy, cutting back social programs, and severely limiting the proposition process whereby people can give themselves generous handouts without any responsibility to pay for it.Another option is doing what should have been done 150 years ago and breaking California into 2 or 3 smaller states without so many conflicting and diametrically opposed agendas forced to coexist. Do you find this valuable? |
|
californianintexas |
13. RE: Saving California.
Nov 2 2009, 5:13 PM EST
I never said California was in great shape. I have been aware for years that it is anything but, and I agree that we need a new constitution. My point is that the grass is not always greener on the other side, as I have experienced when I started my job search here in Texas last year. I went to an employment specialist after having trouble finding work on my own due to my autism, and they too had tons of trouble finding decent-paying jobs for me, and I had to settle with the part-time/no health insurance job I have now. And my boyfriend, a computer science major, is even worse off having been unemployed for 3 years, even here in Texas. (And by the way, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for September, Texas again lost more jobs than California, though both were surpassed by New York.)
Do you find this valuable?
|
