Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, weighs on in the ill-conceived SB 752:
A quick snapshot of California reveals a state in fiscal peril: a structural budget deficit in the billions, prisons about to be taken over by the federal government, and a pension system morass that is beyond comprehension. With California’s fiscal house collapsing on top of itself, imagine my shock when I heard about the Legislature’s most recent social welfare entitlement program—giving all newborns $500 at a cost to taxpayers of nearly $300 million annually.
This proposal left a lot of folks scratching their heads. It is one thing for the tax and spend lobby to be pushing loony ideas, but this actually – for a time – had Republican support. The idea was so wrong on so many levels. First, it reflected the mentality that most in Sacramento actually believe the first job of government is to redistribute wealth. Second, unless Liz Hill has reported over the weekend $10 billion in new revenue she found under the seat cushions, we simply can’t afford this proposal. Finally, it would also have served as one more incremental magnet for illegal immigrants to come to California to cash in on our largesse.
My own reaction to this proposal was to wonder why the authors just didn’t go directly to a tax credit. A $500 tax credit for filers who have a newborn in a given tax year would have essentially accomplished the same goal. While this proposal would still be flawed on several policy grounds, it would have at least cut out the middleman – government – from collecting our money and then, by the goodness and grace of government charity, hand it back to us.
I am not going to flail a dead horse here, as Senator Dutton has backed off this proposal. (Thank you, Senator). But I have real concerns when Republicans – who should know better – seek to launch a major new government program which seeks to redistribute wealth (poverty, actually, since our kids are going to stuck with massive future bills). We have enough worries with our eclectic corner office to have the legislators in the party of fiscal conservatism stray this far off the reservation.