Come with me if you want higher taxes.
California Governor Schwarzenegger wants $4.4 billion by upping the CA sales tax 1.5%:
"We have a dramatic situation here and it takes dramatic solutions … and immediate action," Schwarzenegger said as he called the Legislature back into session to deal with the budget shortfall.
He wants to cut $4.5 billion and add a “temporary” tax to raise $4.4 billion.
Sure… temporary. I believe that.
California has a budget of $96 billion dollars. One would think there is a little room to cut $4 billion rather than raise taxes during a recession. Do restaurants need their services costing more? Nope.
I betcha I could find 10 or 15 billion of easy cuts in the spending below. How about, every other vice principal gets the axe? And hmm…. lets’ cut a layer of middle out of state bureaucracies, and we can always feed prisoners SPAM.
He isn’t trying. He is taking the usual politicians course… spread the pain. But that doesn’t work. Never has, never will.
November 6th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Carme got a little post-election greeting from the governator:
Dear Valued State Worker,
During the six weeks since I signed our state budget, the mortgage crisis has deepened, unemployment has increased and the stock market has dropped significantly. As a result, we are facing a projected $11 billion revenue shortfall this fiscal year.
These dramatic developments require us to work together and respond immediately. I have called the Legislature into special session to address our fiscal emergency, and I am proposing a combination of economic stimulus measures, programs to keep Californians in their homes, revenue increases and spending reductions to address the real, immediate financial problems facing the state.
If approved by the Legislature, these spending reductions will impact our state workers. Californians rely on you to deliver important services every day, and I am proud of your hard work and dedication to the state. That’s why I want you to hear about these impacts from me directly.
To achieve cost savings and protect vital state services, I am proposing the following measures:
· Furloughs: All state employees will be furloughed one day each month for the next year and half, a total of 19 days. This will result in a pay cut of about 5 percent. The pay cut will not affect retirement and other benefits for which you are eligible.
· Holidays: The Columbus Day holiday will be eliminated, and Lincoln’s Birthday and Washington’s Birthday will be observed together on Presidents Day. In addition, we will no longer pay time-and-a-half to employees working on holidays. Instead, employees required to work on holidays will receive holiday credit for use at another time, as they do now.
· Four-day week: The law will be amended to make it easier for departments to allow employees to work ten hours a day, four days a week.
· Overtime: The state will no longer count leave time (including sick leave and vacation time) as time worked for overtime purposes. Instead, employees will only become eligible for overtime pay once actual time worked exceeds the required threshold.
These changes will save the state roughly $1.4 billion over two years. I know these are not easy proposals, and I assure you we are working closely with union leadership to achieve results in the least painful way possible. All the actions we’re proposing must first be approved by the Legislature.
I’ve always said that California has the most talented and most diligent state employees, and I am confident we will make it through this tough time by working together. Thank you for your cooperation and hard work on behalf of the State of California.
Sincerely,
Arnold Schwarzenegger
November 6th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Kevin: welcome to my world. I am not collecting social security because I collect a federal pension, the government (and that includes states) have a captive audience in their civil servants. Want to keep your job, make sacrifices by taking an unpaid day each month, no overtime (just contribute your free time to the company), pay into medicare (or it will go under) and on and on and on. I had 25 years of this crap so I can fully appreciate the shock you got with this letter. Let him raise the sales tax 1.5% and don’t screw with the work force. Or cut state spending, don’t coddle the prisoners, pay the cops what they are worth, stop illegal immigration or quit supporting the illegals, there are better ways to cut corners without taking advantage of employees who really cannot fight back. Unions, not an effective bunch of fools. Trust me, the federal employee’s union is an expensive bunch of do nothings who do not understand who they are supposed to work for. Guess the CA state employees are in the same boat. Good luck
November 6th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
These are measures that should be standard, except for the furloughs. State workers are no more special than GM workers. Only the fact that their boss can take money from the people makes them less subject to the normal laws of economics. Arnie should do these measures and cut the payroll by a large amount – 1/4 or so.
Likle GM would have to. Or my company.
November 6th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
BOLOGNA SANDWICH
Buy some bologna and some bread and a little jar of mustard. Then you make yourself a bologna sandwich. Put the bread down on the table, put the bologna on it. Spread the mustard on the bologna. Put another piece of bread on the bologna, then eat it with some milk. Then clean up ~ a la Sheriff Joe