As I watched Bernie Madoff finally head to prison earlier this week after pleading guilty to one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in history, I couldn’t help but think of the similarities between what Madoff did to his investors and what the Governor and the State Legislature are doing to the taxpayers of this state.
We were told just last week that the largest tax increase in state history was, “a comprehensive solution to the state’s $41.6 billion budget shortfall.” The non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office just announced yesterday that even if the blackmail measure, Proposition 1A, is approved by the voters in May and the state of California gets every dollar of the federal economic stimulus it hopes to get, that California will face an $8 billion deficit through June 2010.
In addition, the Legislative Analyst projects continuing deficits of up to $25 billion.
What makes this even worse is that the figures don’t take into account the billions more that the state is going to have to pay in the future to cover state employee compensation agreements already agreed to by the Governor, state pension benefits and unfunded health care benefits.
In using the Sacramento Bee’s own tax calculator, a family of four earning $60,000 a year is being forced to pay an additional $900 annually in taxes for at least two and maybe as long as five years if Proposition 1A is passed by voters.
Bernie Madoff had to con his victims. The Governor, Senate President Darrell Steinberg, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines and former Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill have also concocted a plan to con their "victims" – the taxpayers of California. When you go to the polls to cast your ballot, you will be hard pressed to find in the title and summary of Proposition 1A the tremendous tax implications of a yes vote. This isn’t by mistake, this is shameful attempt to pass a ballot measure through deception.
As a broken Bernie Madoff went to prison, he finally apologized to his victims. California’s tax increase lobby is shameless. They will cross this state touting a budget plan that was flawed the day it was passed and has now been exposed by the Legislative Analyst as a house of cards. And these are the same folks who are very comfortable lying to the voters about Proposition 1A.
Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?
Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.