Courtesy of our friends at Americans for Tax Reform…
CA Special Election Fact of the Day: It’s the Spending Stupid
Washington D.C. – Gov. Schwarzenegger and the rest of the spending interests that got California into its fiscal crisis want Golden State voters to extend the tax hikes passed in February for another 2 years, resulting in another $16 billion in new taxes.
Points of fact: California has the highest income and sales tax rates in the nation and nearly the highest state and local tax burden.
Californians worked 204 days last year, well over half the year, just paying for the cost of their government.
Clearly higher taxes are not the answer; if they were then California would be in great shape. The problem is overspending.
The California government has lived beyond its means for far too long. Last year politicians in Sacramento spent $33 billion more than the state brought in. If a business were to operate like this it would go under. If a family were to budget like this it would go bankrupt.
State spending in California has increased 300 percent since 1991. Had spending been limited to the rate of population growth and inflation, the state would be sitting on a $15 billion surplus rather than staring down the barrel of a $21 billion deficit.
True spending restraint is needed. Prop 1A does not provide true spending restraint. What it does provide is $16 billion in new taxes on California families and employers in the middle of a recession.
Americans for Tax Reform urges California voters to send a loud and clear message to elected officials that taxpayers have been squeezed dry and that it is time to address the true problem: gross overspending.