This in from Assemblywoman Diane Harkey… So true…
Assemblywoman Diane Harkey
The Democrat majority in the Legislature just passed another unbalanced budget that includes deferrals to education, early release of state prisoners to our counties, phantom revenue projections and legal challenges waiting in the wings. By any calculation, it also adds to our state’s wall of debt, that the Governor claims to want to reduce.
Unless of course the Governor and the Democrats are relying on the decrease in taxes that Republicans fought for, to pump up the economy another $4B this year? Have they turned into supply-siders? If so, the anticipated projected revenues are certainly beyond any multiplier effect ever seen. Unfortunately without structural reforms, the Governor and his cohorts in the Legislature appear to be setting the stage to punish the people until they agree to pass taxes which we expect to appear on the ballot in 2012.
Will the controller deem this budget balanced? Probably so, but our state’s credit rating will not improve, unless the mythical $4B materializes, and our financial situation remains tenuous. It is far more likely that California’s budget fiasco is the poster child for what is presently occurring on the national stage setting up future generations with unsustainable levels of debt and inflation, eroding their future earnings, increasing taxation, and diminishing quality of life.
We are proud of our Republican legislators for not falling prey to the usual let’s make a deal ploys that bring pork to their districts or promises of future commission posts, at the expense of billions of taxes on hard working taxpayers. We will no doubt be back in a few months for another budget dance, and Republicans remain united in supporting a true spending cap, pension reform, and regulatory relief so we can get the state back on track and people back to work. Reform and increasing employment is the only way to improve state revenues.