If this tax plan goes through, my family would have to hand over $1,300 more in various taxes including sales tax, gas tax, vehicle licensing, plus the tax on the income tax. Multiply that times five for the number of years these increases are supposed to last. All to support this bloated givernment. Please, California legislators: STOP SPENDING!
Bloomberg News, sent from my iPhone.
California Senate Deadlocked on Tax Increase Bill to Fix Budget
Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- California’s senate remained deadlocked over a plan that would raise taxes to help close the state’s $42 billion budget shortfall after four days of nearly round-the-clock talks failed to sway enough Republican lawmakers.
The senate stopped voting on the bill and recessed after 1 a.m. in Sacramento today when it didn’t win enough support for the $14 billion tax measure. The bill is the cornerstone of a budget package worked out by Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and leaders of the legislature’s Democratic majority, and is at least one Republican vote short of the two- thirds majority needed to pass it.
“We are going to be here all night and we are going to be here until the budget is done,” Senate President Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat, told reporters waiting outside. “We aren’t leaving until we get that one vote.”
For four months California’s politicians have been unable to agree on ways to cut spending or raise revenue to replace tax collections lost amid the U.S. recession. The stalemate forced California, the most-populous U.S. state, to cut off funding for thousands of construction projects, delay income tax refunds and tell 20,000 government workers that they may be fired.
Schwarzenegger and Democratic lawmakers, who control both legislative chambers, have backed a $40 billion package of tax increases, spending cuts and bond sales to close the shortfall through June 2010.
Senate Ouster
The package ran into opposition in the Senate, where Republicans late yesterday ousted Senator Dave Cogdill, who sought to rally support in his party for the budget plan. Three Republicans are needed to secure a majority to pass it.
Republicans said higher taxes would only further burden residents being squeezed by the souring economy.
“Californians are already some of the highest taxed,” Republican Senator George Runner said during two hours of debate on the measure yesterday. “They are paying their fair share and now we are going in and asking them for more.”
The budget proposal would raise the state sales-tax rate to 8.25 percent from 7.25 percent; boost vehicle license fees to 1.15 percent from 0.65 percent of the value of an automobile; add 12 cents to the per-gallon gasoline tax; reduce the dependant-care tax credit to $100 from $300 and impose a surcharge of as much as 5 percent on income taxes, amounting to an extra $50 for every $1,000 owed to the state.
Combined, the measures would raise taxes and fees by $14 billion, cut spending by $16 billion and add $10 billion to the state’s debt. Another $2 billion in reserves would be created from funds moved on balance sheets.
‘Exhausted’
Steinberg warned fellow Senators on Feb. 16 that he may enforce a lockdown if votes needed to push the plan through weren’t forthcoming. Throughout yesterday Senators were seen carrying bags full of toiletries and at least one carried a sleeping bag onto the floor. During the recess they were advised not to leave the building.
“We’re all exhausted and it’s just not that much fun,” Steinberg said. “But our minor inconvenience pales in comparison to the pain and the harm that will be done to the people of California if we don’t do their business.”
Citing politicians’ inaction, Standard & Poor’s on Feb. 2 cut the rating on $46 billion of California’s bonds to A from A+, giving it the lowest credit grade of any U.S. state. A California bond due in 2036 that pays 4.5 percent interest last traded for 82.8 cents on the dollar to yield 5.75 percent. On Feb. 13, that bond traded for an average 86 cents to yield 5.48 percent, according to Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board data.
Job Losses
Without a new budget in place, California yesterday notified 20,000 state employees that they may lose their jobs, a step Schwarzenegger put off taking last week when a deal seemed imminent. The governor is also set to shut down $3.8 billion of public works projects, including many already under construction, because the state doesn’t have enough money to pay for them.
The impasse has also strained counties across California, which won’t get $270 million the state was supposed to pay them for welfare programs, according to the California State Association of Counties. Sacramento and San Diego counties said on Feb. 13 they were suing to get the funds released, and that more counties may join them.
Greg Cox, a supervisor from San Diego County, said the payment withholding may force the county to dip into its reserves to pay for welfare. More rural counties, with less money set aside, may be harder hit, he said.
“This may be enough to push them over the edge,” Cox said yesterday. “We’re used to dealing with dead-beat dads, but we’ve never had to deal with a dead-beat state before.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael B. Marois in Sacramento at mmarois@bloomberg.net To contact the reporter on this story: William Selway in San Francisco at wselway@bloomberg.net
Find out more about Bloomberg for iPhone: http://bbiphone.bloomberg.com/iphone
California Senate Deadlocked on Tax Increase Bill to Fix Budget
Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- California’s senate remained deadlocked over a plan that would raise taxes to help close the state’s $42 billion budget shortfall after four days of nearly round-the-clock talks failed to sway enough Republican lawmakers.
The senate stopped voting on the bill and recessed after 1 a.m. in Sacramento today when it didn’t win enough support for the $14 billion tax measure. The bill is the cornerstone of a budget package worked out by Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and leaders of the legislature’s Democratic majority, and is at least one Republican vote short of the two- thirds majority needed to pass it.
“We are going to be here all night and we are going to be here until the budget is done,” Senate President Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat, told reporters waiting outside. “We aren’t leaving until we get that one vote.”
For four months California’s politicians have been unable to agree on ways to cut spending or raise revenue to replace tax collections lost amid the U.S. recession. The stalemate forced California, the most-populous U.S. state, to cut off funding for thousands of construction projects, delay income tax refunds and tell 20,000 government workers that they may be fired.
Schwarzenegger and Democratic lawmakers, who control both legislative chambers, have backed a $40 billion package of tax increases, spending cuts and bond sales to close the shortfall through June 2010.
Senate Ouster
The package ran into opposition in the Senate, where Republicans late yesterday ousted Senator Dave Cogdill, who sought to rally support in his party for the budget plan. Three Republicans are needed to secure a majority to pass it.
Republicans said higher taxes would only further burden residents being squeezed by the souring economy.
“Californians are already some of the highest taxed,” Republican Senator George Runner said during two hours of debate on the measure yesterday. “They are paying their fair share and now we are going in and asking them for more.”
The budget proposal would raise the state sales-tax rate to 8.25 percent from 7.25 percent; boost vehicle license fees to 1.15 percent from 0.65 percent of the value of an automobile; add 12 cents to the per-gallon gasoline tax; reduce the dependant-care tax credit to $100 from $300 and impose a surcharge of as much as 5 percent on income taxes, amounting to an extra $50 for every $1,000 owed to the state.
Combined, the measures would raise taxes and fees by $14 billion, cut spending by $16 billion and add $10 billion to the state’s debt. Another $2 billion in reserves would be created from funds moved on balance sheets.
‘Exhausted’
Steinberg warned fellow Senators on Feb. 16 that he may enforce a lockdown if votes needed to push the plan through weren’t forthcoming. Throughout yesterday Senators were seen carrying bags full of toiletries and at least one carried a sleeping bag onto the floor. During the recess they were advised not to leave the building.
“We’re all exhausted and it’s just not that much fun,” Steinberg said. “But our minor inconvenience pales in comparison to the pain and the harm that will be done to the people of California if we don’t do their business.”
Citing politicians’ inaction, Standard & Poor’s on Feb. 2 cut the rating on $46 billion of California’s bonds to A from A+, giving it the lowest credit grade of any U.S. state. A California bond due in 2036 that pays 4.5 percent interest last traded for 82.8 cents on the dollar to yield 5.75 percent. On Feb. 13, that bond traded for an average 86 cents to yield 5.48 percent, according to Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board data.
Job Losses
Without a new budget in place, California yesterday notified 20,000 state employees that they may lose their jobs, a step Schwarzenegger put off taking last week when a deal seemed imminent. The governor is also set to shut down $3.8 billion of public works projects, including many already under construction, because the state doesn’t have enough money to pay for them.
The impasse has also strained counties across California, which won’t get $270 million the state was supposed to pay them for welfare programs, according to the California State Association of Counties. Sacramento and San Diego counties said on Feb. 13 they were suing to get the funds released, and that more counties may join them.
Greg Cox, a supervisor from San Diego County, said the payment withholding may force the county to dip into its reserves to pay for welfare. More rural counties, with less money set aside, may be harder hit, he said.
“This may be enough to push them over the edge,” Cox said yesterday. “We’re used to dealing with dead-beat dads, but we’ve never had to deal with a dead-beat state before.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael B. Marois in Sacramento at mmarois@bloomberg.net To contact the reporter on this story: William Selway in San Francisco at wselway@bloomberg.net
Find out more about Bloomberg for iPhone: http://bbiphone.bloomberg.com/iphone
Sent from my iPhone
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