Jon Coupal is President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
If an award were given for political chutzpah, members of the California Legislature would win hands down.
An example of chutzpah – a word whose synonyms include “insolence”, “cheek” and “gall” — would be an expensive restaurant adding a 25 percent tip to the bill after providing poor and insulting service.
Don’t blame California’s beleaguered taxpayers if they feel like diners at the restaurant in the above example. Our state’s high tax rates in almost every category have resulted in Californians laboring under the second highest tax burden in all 50 states.
In return for these high taxes, roads are crumbling, schools are underperforming and services in general are well below par. Money that could go to improving government services is syphoned off to support the highest paid state and local government employees in the nation and to provide them pensions in retirement that are as much as five times higher than what similar private sector workers can expect from Social Security.
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