The Freedom Minute

Stop the California Tax Hikes!

Stop the California Tax Hikes!

Unless you act right now, you will be paying higher taxes if you live in California.  I don’t mean a little higher, I mean a lot.  Senate and Assembly Republicans seem poised to renege on their promise not to vote to raise taxes.  If the plan goes through, we will see the following increases:

* Nearly doubling vehicle license fee

* Raising sales taxes 1 cent

* Raising gasoline taxes 12 cents a gallon
* Surcharge of 2.5% to 5% on personal income taxes

What does this mean for you? 

First, the direct costs are obvious.  If you live in Los Angeles County, every taxable item you buy will now cost you an almost 10% extra.  That’s because voters in the last election voted for a ½% increase in the sales tax so the total tax rate will now be 9.75%.  Can you believe that?  9.75%?  The vehicle license fee is tied to the value of your vehicle, so the more expensive your car, the more you will pay.  You’re going to pay more at the pump; a whopping 12 cents more on every gallon.  It may not seem so painful now, but gas prices will not remain at this historically low level.  Just think about gas back up to $3.50 or $4.00 a gallon, plus this extra 12 cents.  And then, after you work hard to pay for all those extra taxes, you won’t really have as much money to pay for them because the State is going to ding you for an extra 2.5% to 5% in income tax.

And there’s an indirect cost to all this as well.  Businesses will have less money to hire workers or give raises.  Consumers will have less money in their pockets to contribute to the local economy.  If you own a business, every dollar in taxes is a dollar your customers can’t spend with you.  They’ll spend less, which means some businesses won’t survive.  Others will have to raise prices or cut expenses – that means lower salaries or less services.

In good times, this would simply be painful, but in a recession, it could be catastrophic.

The State is in this mess because the lawmakers, mostly the Democrats that control the State government, have overspent for years, bloating the budget and getting into sweetheart deals with labor unions and politically connected contributors that require ridiculous expenditures of your tax dollars and increases every year with virtually no way out.

What can you do?  You must call as soon as possible and tell the Republicans that they must hold firm and not raise taxes.  Why the Republicans?  Because the Democrats have already decided that you should pay more taxes.  They are not going to change their minds.  The only chance we have is if the Republicans get an avalanche of calls telling them to hold firm on their previous no tax pledge.

And don’t fall for the hype that not having a budget agreement is some sort of a disaster.  Not having a budget is actually the only way the State will make the cuts necessary to get us out of this mess.  The longer we hold out, the more likely it is that we’ll get cuts instead of increased taxes.  And don’t worry, there will still be plenty of money for schools (we currently spend 59% of the budget on education!), they’ll just have to make cuts in the administrative staff or give up some of the perks they got in the last few years.

California is already the most highly taxed state in the west and in many tax categories, we’re #1.  Don’t let them destroy our economy.  Call today.  Don’t wait or you’re going to be paying much higher taxes.  Do it now.  A vote is scheduled for Friday.  Tell them no tax increase.  Demand it.

Here’s who to call first:

Senator Roy Ashburn    661-323-0443
Assemblyman Roger Niello    916-349-1995
Senator Abel Maldonado    805-549-3784
Assemblyman Anthony Adams    909-625-1038
Brandon Gesicki    831-206-6460 (Senator Abel Maldonado’s “Political Director”)
Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee        805-549-3381
Assemblyman Brian Nestande    951-369-6644
Senator Dave Cogdill    559-253-7122
Assemblyman Mike Villines    559-446-2029
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger    916-445-2841

Then go to these two links and call everyone else listed there:

Click here for a list of Assembly Republicans

Click here for a list of Senate Republicans

Don’t worry that you’re not in their district.  If they vote to raise taxes, it will affect YOU.  The important thing is that they get overwhelmed with calls.

For more info on this whole disaster, check out:

http://www.kfiam640.com/pages/johnandkenshow/

February 12th, 2009 Posted by freedomminute | State Government | 3 comments