I hate to disappoint those of you who think it already costs too much to spend a day at the Magic Kingdom. But apparently Governor Schwarzenegger has included applying sales and use taxes to
amusement park tickets as part of a huge tax increase proposal that, frankly, makes his original mammoth sales tax proposal look “Mickey Mouse” by comparison.
In order to save me time, and ensure accuracy, I will actually paste below the exact language from the Governor summary of taxes that he would increase.
Before you start to send me an e-mail outraged that our Republican Governor, who campaigned for re-election against Phil Angelides by declaring in all corners of this state that he would vigorously oppose all tax increases, don’t. I already agree with you that this is outrageous, and a total breach of the trust that we placed in the Governor. We elected him to safeguard Californians against just this kind of attempt to increase government. In essence, for years, the Governor signed budgets that increased state spending by over 40%, and now the chickens (free from their cages) have come home to roost.
The Governor argues that with the state budget over $10 billion dollars out of whack, that there is simply no way to make that many cuts in state spending. Of course, we disagree. What the Governor may mean is that there is no way to get Democrats to sign off on $10 billion in additional cuts (the Governor proposes half that much in his proposal released today). That having been said, the Governor also knows that there are no GOP votes to increases taxes. Not the income tax proposed by Democrats. And not the sales, excise, use, oil severance (just when gas prices are dropping?) or any of the other new taxes proposed by the Governor today.
With this proposal, again the Governor is increasing his irrelevance to the budget process. By embracing some sort of let’s side with nobody, and take some sort of middle ground shows that he is no friend to Republicans these days. By supporting any tax increases, the Governor is ceding completely that our problems come from over-spending. In fact, the Governor says that without tax increases, "vital services" provided by the state will have to be cut.
The Governor has proposed billions of dollars in cuts in the past, included within his California Performance Review that was mothballed years ago. When are those cuts coming back onto the table?
Anyways, as long as our Republican Governor is an advocate of more and more tax increases, he takes the pressure off of the Democrat over-spenders to continue to look critically at where more cuts can be made. And we can’t afford to take any pressure off of them. These liberal ideologues see government growth as a religious cause, and will not take to making substantial, and long term cuts easily.
In the meantime, if you are a fan of Disneyland, you should thank legislative Republicans. They are committed to making sure that you don’t have to pay for Democrat overspending every time you visit the park.
(I don’t have time to write more about it now, but the Governor has also proposed socialist-style rules concerning homeowners who aren’t paying their mortgages, letting them stay in their homes even when they aren’t paying — for months! So much for the individual responsibility that is a cornerstone of our Republic. People may have made some bad choices and overextended themselves, but taxpayers and lenders shouldn’t be on the hook for that.).
THE GOVERNOR’S PROPOSED TAX INCREASES:
- The Governor is proposing $ 4.7billion in new revenues for the current budget year in the form of:
- A Temporary Sales Tax Increase: A temporary increase in the state sales tax (from 5 percent to 6.5 percent) will generate additional sales tax revenues of $ 3.5 billion in 2008-09 for the General Fund. It will also effectively protect significant education funding. At the end of three years, the state sales tax would revert to 5 percent.
- Broadening the Sales and Use Tax to Include Certain Services: Effective February 1, 2009, the sales and use tax rate will be applied to appliance and furniture repair, vehicle repair, golf, and veterinarian services. Effective March 1, 2009, the sales and use tax rate will be applied to amusement parks and sporting events. This is expected to generate additional General Fund sales tax revenue of $357 million in 2008-09.
- Oil Severance Tax: Effective January 1, 2009, impose an oil severance tax upon any oil producer for the right to extract oil from the earth or water in this state. This brings California in line with other states. The tax shall be applied to the gross value of each barrel of oil at a rate of 9.9 percent and will generate additional tax revenues of $528 million in 2008-09.
- Increase Alcohol and Excise Taxes: Alcohol excise taxes are proposed to be raised by five cents a drink beginning on January 1, 2009. This increase is estimated to raise $293 million in 2008-09. Revenues from this tax will be used to fund critical drug and alcohol treatment and prevention services. Alcohol taxes were last raised in 1991.
[Note on the Sales Tax Proposal — This represents a half cent increase over the Governor’s original proposal AND the Governor has taken off the table the idea of his increase ended with an actual rate decrease in the end…]