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California tax revolt - the peasants have risen
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"California's a garden of Eden, it's a paradise to live in, or see. But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot, if you ain't got the do-re-mi.. - Woody Guthrie
Voters sent five out of six ballot propositions touted by Governor Schwarzenegger as a temporary fix to California's budget crisis crashing to defeat in yesterday's special elections by better than two to one majorities. The only one that passed was 1F, which mandated that state legislators cannot receive pay raises when there's a budget deficit.
The state now faces a $21.3 billion budget deficit...in the world's sixth largest economy.
The election was a farce, with unions and other special interests spending over $30 million to try and push these measures through. This time, the overburdened taxpayers in the state simply wouldn't buy it.
What happened to California? As Margaret Thatcher famously said, the problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money. That day is today.
The state is one of the highest taxed in the nation, and like several other states near to financial collapse is controlled by a dysfunctional Democrat-controlled legislature that persists in spending other people's money to buy votes from special interests, and they in turn are controlled by powerful public employee unions like the teachers and the SEIU.
In addition there's education, social services, and law enforcement for thousands of illegal immigrants from the third world countries across the border. That tab alone is estimated at between $5 and $8 billion per year, depending on who's adding. When you import millions of poor people who consume more in services than they spend in taxes, it tends not to be good for your state's budget.
Revenues aren't a factor. California's revenues, per capita, come to about 11.5% of income, higher than the national average of 11.0%. It's the obscene spending.
Will the Feds bail out California? There's no legal basis whatsoever, but I doubt that President Obama will allow a blue state that delivered 55 electoral votes and contains so many of his union supporters to go under.
And, yes, of course all of this will have horrible repercussions, since nothing will change. But in a sterling example of the self-mutating nature of leftism, this will be used to argue that Obama must take more control and spend even more. Besides, it's all monopoly money. What's a few more bailouts?
Meanwhile, the most productive and entrepreneurial of the California's residents will continue to flee to states with lower taxes and a friendlier business climate, eroding what's left of the Golden State's tax base and quality of life..
(see more stories at JoshuaPundit)
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