Experts Expound

Experts Expound

All the signs in the Capitol suggest that a very difficult budget is in the offing next year. The governor already has ordered a 10-percent cut. Some in the Capitol believe the deficit may be in the $10 billion range, perhaps double the current year. Assuming that major cuts loom, where should they be made? Or should we raise taxes?

They should tax gifts made on behalf of legislators to their favorite charity.

The state should cut every paid subscription to Capitol Weekly. That ought to about do it. If that doesn’t work, Democrats ought to let Republicans craft the budget—soup to nuts—and make the requisite cuts required by a GOP spending plan. That way, the people may finally come to understand the consequences of never, ever having enough resources to pay for the services that those same people demand.

Yes, raise taxes. Raise my taxes. I will just lay-off a couple employees to pay for it.

We SHOULD raise taxes on the wealthiest Californians like Pete Wilson did, but the knuckle-dragging Republican Caucus will probably want to cut taxes instead. Forget about a summer recess; this one probably won’t get done until September, and will be even worse if amateurs replace Nunez, Perata, and Ackerman.

Pretty tough to raise taxes ever…especially in a down-turning economy. It is virtually impossible to cut the budget by an amount as great as 10 percent, even if it’s done “across the board.” They’re usually lucky to avoid increasing the overall budget…. We may miss the summer recess in 2008!

Let’s see: We are coming up on 40 million people, with more and more young kids and elderly needing state services, 75 percent of  the state budget locked in due to federal mandates and VOTER-APPROVED spending requirements; Republicans voting for various tax credit programs and unwilling to vote for any new taxes; Democrats unwilling to buck the unions to reduce expenditures for ANY public programs. Maybe the Governor should “blow up the boxes?” Oh, he tried that?

Where cuts should be made and where taxes should be raised bears no resemblance to what a Legislature that’s made a career out of punting any remotely controversial decision will do. Ask the question again on February 6—maybe the Prop 93 results will encourage an actual discussion on the substance to take place.

Cuts? Cuts you say? What’s a cut?

There is no way spending will be cut to cover the deficit. We’ve seen this movie year after year. And there can be no 2/3 vote to raise taxes. So, it’s probably borrow again. Some way to run a railroad, isn’t it

Taxes don’t need to be raised; Democrats just need to stop spending! Education will have to take a hit just like everyone else.
If Steve Maviglio took all the state time that he spends blogging and got a minimum wage job we would have a budget surplus.

The people from whom we sought opinions: Andrew Acosta, A.G. Block, Deborah Gonzalez, Don Wilcox, Dan Schnur, Sam Sorich, Karen Hanretty, Jason Kinney, Matt Ross, Mike Madrid, Kevin Spillane, Morgan Crinklaw, Ralph Simoni, Richard Zeiger, Peter DeMarco, Adam Probolsky, Barbara O’Connor, Jeff Fuller, Kassy Perry, Adam Mendelsohn, Ken Gibson, Bill Packer, Jack Pitney, Sandy Harrison, Steve Maviglio, Nicole Mahrt, Will Shuck, Bob Hertzberg, Evan Goldberg, Roger Salazar, Mark Bogetich, Matt Rexroad, Tony Quinn, Scout Baugh.

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