A couple of weeks ago, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called together a group of leaders of taxpayer advocacy groups in his office in Sacramento. The purpose of the meeting was two-fold — for the Governor to restate his commitment to holding the line against any new taxes, and also to strategize about how to tackle the upcoming state budget negotiations.
I asked FR friend Jon Coupal, the President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, who was at that meeting, if he would put pen to paper (or is that fingers to keyboard?) and tell us all about that meeting.
When reading his piece, featured today on the main page, I was especially pleased to hear that the Governor made it clear that his opposition is to new taxes and to NEW FEES. As Coupal points out, this will foreshadow a host of vetoes during this legislative session as the Democrats love to pass fee increases left and right.
Coupal’s piece ends with a warning, though. Which is that holding the line on taxation is very important, but that the big challenge ahead of the Governor is the reigning in of spending….
TIM LESLIE’S NEW IDEA
I recently read that Assemblyman Tim Leslie is moving forward with legislation to create an Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives. I reached out to him to ask him to pen a piece for you telling you about it. I admit that I am torn on the idea. Of course the promotion of faith based and community efforts from the private sector is a great idea. But the libertarian side of me is very hesitant about the creation of a new government office, and the idea that government should be playing a role in the coordination of the activities of private entities. Well, it is definitely worth reading. Thanks to FR friend Craig DeLuz for facilitating this column.
TAX-CUT DEAL IN D.C…?
It would appear from reading news accounts that a ‘deal has been struck’ to reauthorize a lot of President Bush’s tax cuts, that are set to sunset soon. I’m hopeful that this package will make it to the President’s desk. My expectation levels for conservative action out of DC are pretty low these days. In this case, it will all (as it always seems to) hinge on the United States Senate. Hopefully we’ll hear more about this from our DC Correspondent, Congressman John Campbell!
BONUS REVENUE
It looks like Governor Schwarzenegger is going to be putting the 2006 revenue ‘windfall’ of around $5 billion to good use. According to a chat that I had with State Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman, who called yesterday evening, the Governor proposes paying off debt, creating a very healthy reserve, and making a payment to the education side of the budget to offset prior years of under-funding. These are prudent proposals — of course, let’s see what happens when the Democrats are done imposing ‘their plans’ for the money… Someday maybe we’ll be able to pass an initiative that says that any surplus is automatically applied as a tax credit to California taxpayers! (Wishful thinking.)
I have to run — have a great day!
Jon
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