Today we are pleased to feature this guest commentary from longtime FR friend Audra Strickland. Strickland is a member of the California State Assembly…
Expose the Democrat’s Ruse for Tax Increases
By Assemblywoman Audra Strickland
Big in the news in the last couple of weeks is that Democrats and education community leaders are up in arms about the Governor’s plan for across the board cuts that include reduction in K-14 and higher education spending – cuts projected to be $5.5 billion combined. These folks say that the Governor’s solution to address the state’s $16 billion deficit is lopsided because it only includes spending cuts and no tax increases.
As a teacher, I know how bad these cuts will be for our public schools and colleges. The educators and school administrators are correct that we, as Republicans concerned about the quality of education for our children, should not be supporting any proposals for a 10% across the board cuts. And, I agree with our college students, who have come to the Capitol to protest proposals for tuition increases and a reduction in financial aid. Fee increases are nothing more than a tax increase on our college students. The strategy to balance the budget on the backs of our children and students is wrong.
I am a firm believer that our state and legislature need to set priorities in our budget, rather than treating all budget items equally. The budget has items that can be classified as fraud, waste and abuse that could not only be cut 10%, but should be eliminated altogether.
While the education community tries to communicate the real and harmful effects budget cuts will have on education, they are being co-opted by the Democrats to help manipulate public sentiment to generate support for tax increases. It allows Democrats to pretend that there are only two solutions: cut education or increase taxes.
We have heard this spin before from Democrats intent on raising taxes. They insist that if you do not support raising taxes, then you do not support education. They have even put public safety in jeopardy to claim that if you do not support raising taxes then you do not support public safety.
The fact is that you can both support education and stand against tax increases. What the Democrats do not want people to know is that they can eliminate the fraud, waste and abuse in the state budget in order to protect education and public safety dollars. It now our job as Republicans to expose the Democrat’s ruse and provide an alternative to increased taxes in order to maintain public safety and protect education.
That is why I have introduced AB3x 20 and its companion bill ACA 14. If signed into law, AB3x 20 will require all adults applying for state benefit programs to prove legal residency in order to qualify. ACA 14 would place an initiative with identical legislative provisions on the ballot for voter approval. Passage of these measures is estimated to save the state anywhere from $5 billion to more than $10 billion a year.
At a time when we are facing a $16 billion dollar deficit, surely we can come together to de-prioritize funding of benefits to the illegal immigrant population – subsidized college tuition, welfare, food stamps, adult and career technical education, unemployment benefits, disability benefits and the list goes on.
Before we consider cuts to education and lay off teachers, before we consider cuts to children in foster care, before we jeopardize public safety by releasing 22,000 prisoners, before we increase tuition for lawful students, before we adopt the Democrat’s multi-billion dollar plan to increase taxes, we should stand firm against state taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal immigrants.
It is time to end the Democrat’s ruse and put Californians first.