So there is a budget crisis in California. What else is new?

There is a budget crisis every year. Even if California has an on-time budget, there is a budget crisis. Why? Simply put, California spends more than it takes in.

This is because California relies heavily on personal income taxes to create a General Fund balance that can then be spent on various programs. However, the largest percentage of income tax payers are the high-income earners, whose earnings are more likely to fluctuate. This means, in low earning years, that California takes in a lot less in personal income tax. In higher earning years, like the tech-bubble years, California takes in a lot more than it spends.

Now, if this was your personal budget, for your household, what would you do? You would save some of the higher earnings to cover a lower earning year. However, California doesn't (and didn't) do this. Instead the state Legislature, dominated by Democrats, created more social programs which in turn created more on-going costs.

Now we California doesn't have the money to sustain these programs. Californians already suffer from the highest tax burden in the country. The Democrats want to increase this burden even more. The tax burden has increased almost 40% over the last decade or so. As a persn living in California, I can tell you that I am not getting 40% more services.

There isn't 40% better schools, roads, transportation and health care. Where is my 40% going? It is going to various bureaucracies. That's not where I want my money to go.

So what is the solution. I am all for cuts in service programs. California, when compared to the other 49 states, has the largest amount of services provided by the state. I feel bad for cutting services, but sometimes things have to go. In a family budget, when you take in less than you spend, something has to get cut. Sometimes it is something that you really don't want to cut. But you have to make the tough decisions.

Asking Californians to carry any more of the tax burden for more and more programs is irresponsible of the state Legislature. It begins to look like there is more and more wealth redistribution. I don't mind paying more for services that I don't use, and subsidizing some services for others, but at some point this wealth redistribution has to stop. Now is a good time.