Sacramento Democrats are a consistent bunch. Their play sheet only has two songs — "Spend More" and "Tax More." That it. And they keep playing their two-song greatest hits album over and over again.
Last week we had Democrat Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata pledging a long summer budget stalemate until Republicans agree to $5 BILLION in new taxes.
Now, on the Assembly side, Fabian "Louis Vuitton" Nunez is calling for a massive 6% increase on tax on oil in California — as if the prices of gasoline in America aren’t high enough? Nunez plan will only serve to increase reliance on foreign oil, as he seeks to make it more expensive to pump oil out of the ground here in the Golden State.
Well, there is a silver lining to every cloud, they say. And in this case, it is simply this — Sacramento Democrats are setting up a great debate for the Spring, presenting the stark contrast between Republicans and Democrats. You see, while the Democrats want to increase taxes on working Californians (who do you think will get hit the hardest if gas prices increase?), Republicans have vowed to block any such tax increase from even reaching the Governor’s desk.
Speaker Nunez fails to talk about the massive growth in state government spending under his reign, as he editorializes in the Sacramento Bee about how we need the $1.2 billion in tax revenue from his proposed oil tax hike scheme in order to avoid teacher lay-offs.
Instead of trying to penalize California taxpayers for the over-spending which will be the legacy of the Nunez Speakership, Democrats should embrace Governor Schwarzenegger’s call for spending reductions.
The reality of our state’s massive $15 billon (at least) structural budget shortfall is a tale of massive overspending. That said, it will probably be a long summer, indeed, as the liberal ideologues that dominate Sacramento are seemingly incapable of tightening the belt of state budget spending by even a few notches.
The contrast is clear — Democrats want to raise taxes and Republicans want to lower spending.
The question is this — Is there room in the Democrat juke-box for a new song? — "We Spent Way Too Much…"
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