This just in from Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner…

The budget deal passed by the Legislature is a raw deal for the people of California. I have repeatedly and vigorously spoken out against this budget deal.  It is simply the latest example of the fundamental dysfunctionality of Sacramento. 

California already has the highest income taxes and the highest state sales tax. This deal raises them even higher. The car tax will be nearly doubled  – a slap in the face of working Californians who thought the 2003 recall had resolved that issue in favor of the taxpayer.  

As I've previously said, it is astounding to me that while the Obama White House is proposing a tax cut for 95% of all Americans, the Sacramento politicians are proposing a tax increase for 95% of all Californians.  Either raising taxes in the middle of a deep economic recession is good public policy or it is bad public policy, but it cannot be both. 

As newspapers have reported, the state budget deal severely limits any positive financial benefit for the people of California from the federal economic stimulus package. Instead, the tax increases will make a bad situation worse and prolong the economic pain for California families who can't hire high high-priced lobbyists to advocate for them in Sacramento.

I've said it before and I will say it again: It is simply wrong to try and balance the budget by taxing people's misery. This budget deal is a financial fiasco. 

The working people of California – already struggling to get by – are literally paying for the sins and financial mismanagement of the Sacramento politicians. 

Time will show that this state budget deal won't produce the tax revenue its proponents claim and it will help drive our state unemployment rate even higher.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.