California is 16 billion dollars short

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   ib radmastersposted 13 years ago

   Who or what caused this shortage
   Was it the politicians or the people?
   Was it the democrats, or the republicans
   Governor Jerry Brown, D, California must think it was the taxpayers because he wants to increase taxes to reduce the shortage.

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      Josakposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      The reason or at least part of it is that California receives a lot less in Federal funding than other states.

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         innersmiffposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Are you serious? California is a Socialist's dream!

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            tobey100posted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Amen.  It surprises me that anyone would be surprised California is in the hole.  It's not one party's fault.  It's the entire mindset of something for nothing.  We have to be fair.  We have to be compassionate.  We have to....whatever.  As Margaret Thatcher said, "Sooner or later you're going to run out of other peoples's money."

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      watergeekposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      He wants to increase taxes by 0.25 cents on sales (a quarter of a penny only), and income taxes only on those who make $250,000 or more per year - and they're expected to be temporary. I don't see the problem, myself.

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         ib radmastersposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         We already pay the highest taxes in the country, the problem is they need to shrink the government, stop paying taxpayer dollars on expensive government employment benefits, and pensions.
         
         Then they need to reduce taxes.

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   Express10posted 13 years ago

   There are a variety of reasons for state and federal shortages. Taxes of all types go unpaid or are illegally avoided by individuals, businesses, and groups. Some game the tax system and extract refunds that were never due to them such as through ID theft. Many states often overpay for a variety of things such as office space. There are various cases on state levels where they have some amount of unused office space and this problem is atrociously worse on the federal level.
   
   There are a combination of factors in this and any past overspending will catch up with the over spenders. Raising taxes is always the knee-jerk reaction but some of the aforementioned issues also need to be reviewed in order to keep a shortfall from occurring again in the near future.

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      watergeekposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Good point. Governor Brown recently passed an executive order that mandates government buildings in CA become LEED certified. He expects it to save a ton of state money in water and energy bills. Coming from a background of water conservation, I believe he's right.

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   knolyourselfposted 13 years ago

   The real estate meltdown and the banking and real estate scams and criminality in general.

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      watergeekposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      This is a good point too. Both the real estate and banking situations have been discussed at length, but what about criminality? We have multiple prisons packed full, for which we pay about $1.5 billion per year (by CA calculations). 18% of those prisoners are there for drug crimes. If half of that was marijuana and the feds were to legalize its use, we could save $135 million per year.

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         Mighty Momposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         You wanna talk criminality you're heading in the right direction here.
         A powerful and corrupt "peace officers" union plays a huge part in our money and humanity pit of a prison system.
         

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   Mighty Momposted 13 years ago

   Like everything else, there's no simple explanation and this sorry state didn't happen overnight.
   
   Here are some things that certainly didn't help:
   Years of unfunded pension liability combined with early retirement of thousands and thousands of state workers
   Lifetime health benefits for state retirees
   Unnecessary and redundant state "boards" with highly paid workers with no purpose
   A boatload of citizens living here but not paying into the system
   Losing businesses to other states where there is less (a lot less) regulatory red tape
   A construction industry that tanked in the recession and is only just now very slowly coming back
   One of, if not the highest foreclosure rates in the country
   
   
   BTW, Brown's solution also includes slashing and burning services.

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      ib radmastersposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I agree, except for the part about slash and burn by Brown. They always hit the schools and public safety, when they should be hitting the people at the decision level with the six figure salaries, and like money in pensions.
      
      Thanks

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         Mighty Momposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Absolutely. And with overtime and state-paid benes up the wazoo, there are a lot more six-figure (or close to) than you would ever want to know.
         I live in the state capital and I am surrounded by the state worker mentality.
         There are exceptions, of course. But I have friends at all levels in many different departments and inside the capitol.
         It blows my mind with disgust.

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   knolyourselfposted 13 years ago

   What would be the alternative?

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   Paulshubposted 13 years ago

   California, along with the rest of the states can do something they should of done years ago and that is legalize marijuana. Missing out on a huge tax opportunity.

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      watergeekposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Same thing with industrial hemp (different plant, in spite of what the police tell you). We have good conditions for growing it in the north, it's great for the soil, and it could be a lucrative new crop in the millions of dollars.

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   Stacie Lposted 13 years ago

   Someone suggested  a while ago that we make every undocumented workers a citizen so they can pay their fair share of taxes...and if they stay fine, if not, good riddance.
   With all the celebrities living there, I'm sure they could fix the budget with a single million dollar donation.

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   cottageindustryposted 13 years ago

   The govt is very inefficient at everything it does. I mean, it is not their money. Used to be a great state and now they're taxing the people to death.
   
   The structure of the state govt is wrong and they need a governor with strong backbone to start slashing some services.

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   Reality Bytesposted 13 years ago

   The level of taxation in California has forced many individuals and their companies to relocate outside the Peoples Republic Of California.  Without this revenue to tax, there will surely be a shortfall.  Raising taxes will only enhance the problem.

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