According to his press
flacks, Gov. Schwarzenegger has nothing against Abe Lincoln
or Chris
Columbus, he just doesn't think state workers need to get
a paid holiday off to celebrate them anymore. Worried about his legacy
as a tax
& spend Republican, Gov. Arnhole has
proposed this sweeping
CUT to a state budget faced with an estimated $24 Billion
shortfall next year, $28 Billion by 2010..
Frequent readers may recall our saga this year with a state budget deficit approaching $15 Billion. (It's All About the Balls and Nice Budget Boys & Girls). A budget was finally passed more than 90 days after it was due so our lawmakers could get on to their much needed vacations and get a little facetime at the national conventions. They hadn't been gone but three (count 'em - 3) weeks when it became obvious the new budget wasn't worth the toilet paper it was scribbled on so the Gov. has called them back into a lame duck session to deal with an 'unanticipated' shortfall of another $3 - $4 Billion.
So far our illustrious Gov. has proposed adding another 1 1/2 cents to our sales tax. With California already the highest sales tax state in the country, this move will cement that position with cash registers adding as much as $.10 to every dollar you spend in some cities.
Arnhole has also proposed raising the state income tax. Again, we are among the top 3 in the nation for personal income tax but why settle for #2 or #3 when you can be #1? The neat thing about this is we'll pay higher state taxes but be able to write it off our Federal taxes. So we can rob Peter, pay Paul, and then bitch about it when Peter doesn't pony up to rescue the state default. Yeah, I like the sound of that.
Of course the holiday issue is an easy target. California state workers get more paid holidays than any other state in the union today with 14 paid days off. New Jersey gets 13 and the national average is 11. And the savings will go a long way toward reducing that $24 Billion deficit. The Gov. figures this will save the state $114 million. Jeez, if we could just eliminate the rest of the holidays we could save nearly $1 Billion - only $23 more to go. He does have a partner proposal to this one which is to have all state workers take off 1 day a month without pay. That, he figures, would add another $714 million to the coffers. No mention of a potential loss of productivity by reducing the state workforce by one day per month. Maybe that tells us more about the productivity of state workers than we want to know, eh?
If you want to get your PC knickers in a bunch - Of the 14 holidays, only Lincoln and Columbus are on the block. Apparently their contributions to our nation and state are not on a par with Cesar Chavez - his holiday is safe, or Martin Luther King Jr. - likewise safe. Fortunately The Gov. did veto a bill this year that would have designated a holiday for Harvey Milk, San Francisco's first openly Gay supervisor (yeah, the movie guy). No doubt his holiday would have eliminated the need to celebrate Washington's birthday from the schedule.
Amazingly (or not), this $114 million cut is THE ONLY CUT thus far proposed by Arnhole. The rest is all tax, tax and revenue enhancement. Growth in our state government has far outpaced the real growth of our state the past decade and far outstripped even the exponential revenue increases experienced during the real estate boom years. Now that that source of revenue has ended, there is still no will amongst our liberal Democratic controlled legislature to reduce spending or shrink government. Rather the solution is to increase taxes, sales tax, income tax and tax on services. Keep your eyes on the Federal Government, folks. You think it's bad now? You ain't seen nothing yet.
Well, that's just my opinon - I could be wrong. (I hope I am but history has shown otherwise).
Frequent readers may recall our saga this year with a state budget deficit approaching $15 Billion. (It's All About the Balls and Nice Budget Boys & Girls). A budget was finally passed more than 90 days after it was due so our lawmakers could get on to their much needed vacations and get a little facetime at the national conventions. They hadn't been gone but three (count 'em - 3) weeks when it became obvious the new budget wasn't worth the toilet paper it was scribbled on so the Gov. has called them back into a lame duck session to deal with an 'unanticipated' shortfall of another $3 - $4 Billion.
So far our illustrious Gov. has proposed adding another 1 1/2 cents to our sales tax. With California already the highest sales tax state in the country, this move will cement that position with cash registers adding as much as $.10 to every dollar you spend in some cities.
Arnhole has also proposed raising the state income tax. Again, we are among the top 3 in the nation for personal income tax but why settle for #2 or #3 when you can be #1? The neat thing about this is we'll pay higher state taxes but be able to write it off our Federal taxes. So we can rob Peter, pay Paul, and then bitch about it when Peter doesn't pony up to rescue the state default. Yeah, I like the sound of that.
Of course the holiday issue is an easy target. California state workers get more paid holidays than any other state in the union today with 14 paid days off. New Jersey gets 13 and the national average is 11. And the savings will go a long way toward reducing that $24 Billion deficit. The Gov. figures this will save the state $114 million. Jeez, if we could just eliminate the rest of the holidays we could save nearly $1 Billion - only $23 more to go. He does have a partner proposal to this one which is to have all state workers take off 1 day a month without pay. That, he figures, would add another $714 million to the coffers. No mention of a potential loss of productivity by reducing the state workforce by one day per month. Maybe that tells us more about the productivity of state workers than we want to know, eh?
If you want to get your PC knickers in a bunch - Of the 14 holidays, only Lincoln and Columbus are on the block. Apparently their contributions to our nation and state are not on a par with Cesar Chavez - his holiday is safe, or Martin Luther King Jr. - likewise safe. Fortunately The Gov. did veto a bill this year that would have designated a holiday for Harvey Milk, San Francisco's first openly Gay supervisor (yeah, the movie guy). No doubt his holiday would have eliminated the need to celebrate Washington's birthday from the schedule.
Amazingly (or not), this $114 million cut is THE ONLY CUT thus far proposed by Arnhole. The rest is all tax, tax and revenue enhancement. Growth in our state government has far outpaced the real growth of our state the past decade and far outstripped even the exponential revenue increases experienced during the real estate boom years. Now that that source of revenue has ended, there is still no will amongst our liberal Democratic controlled legislature to reduce spending or shrink government. Rather the solution is to increase taxes, sales tax, income tax and tax on services. Keep your eyes on the Federal Government, folks. You think it's bad now? You ain't seen nothing yet.
Well, that's just my opinon - I could be wrong. (I hope I am but history has shown otherwise).
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