http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/community/tag_rss/taxes Yesterday's San Diego Union-Tribune has a long article on the failure of Proposition A , a $52 parcel tax for all of San Diego County that would have funded a regional fire authority and help provide badly needed additional resources at local fire departments. Interestingly, it was the most fire-prone areas of San Diego County - towns like Ramona, which nearly burned down in the 2003 fire - that turned in the strongest No votes. Why would they vote against protecting their own property? "I think the people don't believe the government," said Peter Jorgenson, a Ramona resident who voted for the tax. "They don't believe that they're actually going to do anything with the money."... It did not win the support of Mary Eaker, 59, a clerk at a Circle K in Ramona. "With the economy so bad, everybody's voting against anything with taxes," Eaker said. "Nobody wants more taxes. Forget it." The article describes many other possible reasons for Prop A's failure, including poor leadership from San Diego County Supervisors, but the distrust of government does seem to be at the core of the problem. Of course, this isn't just some random development. Conservatives have had as a primary focus creating and capitalizing on distrust of government. Conservative politicians, activists, and editorial pages like those at the U-T (which did endorse Prop A ) have frequently accused government of being wasteful and reckless with tax money as a way to ensure voters never do support a tax increase. They cried wolf so often that when the wolf finally appeared in the form of a catastrophic firestorm, the good people of San Diego County did what they had been trained to do - be skeptical of government and vote against a tax for services they desperately need. It dates back to 1978: Proposition 13 reduced property tax revenue to governments throughout California, leaving fire districts with revenue shortfalls as high as 80 percent. It's not likely we'll ever see a conservative question Prop 13. But as we saw last year conservative criticism has extended to fire departments themselves. Firefighters in Orange County were frequent targets of right-wing criticism , with the OC Register accusing them of being wasteful and taxpayers as being "weak" for giving fire departments more money. One of the primary reasons for California's ongoing budget crisis is because conservatives have successfully created and exploited this distrust of government. If we're going to solve the fire crisis or the budget crisis, we need to restore public trust in government. Showing Californians the consequences of conservative policies is a good way to do that. Just as conservative anti-government policies left New Orleans vulnerable to a hurricane and left the city's residents stranded when that hurricane finally arrived, so too has conservative policy and framing left Californians vulnerable to a similar disaster. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLH4 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLH4/commentary#comments Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:22:08 PST http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLH4 Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/profile_picture/8e501f6005c216fc9b_j8m6b99j3.jpg Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign 2 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CLH4/ With the latest figures about the state budget deficit - $28 billion over the next 2 years - it seems beyond all doubt that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a failure as governor. The sole reason he took office in 2003 was to replace Gray Davis, who faced a similarly large budget deficit. Arnold promised to end this, and it is clear he has failed to deliver. Instead the state of California stands on the precipice of bankruptcy and crippling service cuts that will dramatically worsen the economic downturn. And it is clear this is primarily Arnold's fault. His first act as governor was to roll back the VLF, blowing a $6 billion annual hole in the state budget (roughly half the annual deficit - remember that the $28 billion figure is for two years). That act of irresponsibility was compounded by using borrowing to close the rest of the 2003-04 deficit. As the budget deficit returned in 2007 Arnold stubbornly refused to admit the need for new revenues. He has also refused to engage in the necessary lobbying to produce a budget solution - instead he wishes and hopes Republicans will see the light despite years of evidence suggesting they instead see a budget crisis as an opportunity to ram through far-right ideas that nobody really wants. The Legislative Analyst Office, under its new leader Mac Taylor, directly calls for taxes as the solution to the budget deficit. The report is a bit too favorable to Arnold's plan and suggests too many cuts, but it makes this all-important point about spending cuts: The state's main options for addressing its budget dilemma--cutting expenditures and/or raising revenues--would both have adverse effects on the economy. Either type of option would reduce money held by or received by individuals or businesses that otherwise could be used for consumption or investment purposes. Because the state's economy totals more than $1.7 trillion in economic activity each year, however, spending reductions or tax increases totaling between $20 billion and $30 billion would have a relatively small impact on the overall economy. Here again I think the new LAO is being too moderate. The report notes that much of the upward pressure on spending is coming from increased usage of Medi-Cal, for example, suggesting that government services are becoming more necessary in a recession. It's the safety net at work - and cutting the safety net is the last thing we ought to be doing. Republicans like Mike Villines might be peddling books by Arthur Laffer, but as the California Budget Project explains the evidence proves that tax increases are the best way to provide a budget fix that doesn't hurt the economy. And of course, spending cuts and tax increases hit different Californians. Spending cuts hit working and middle-class people particularly hard, especially the truly insane proposals to increase student fees for higher ed. But a return to the pre-1998 tax levels would hit the wealthy while providing the working and middle classes with the safety net and economic opportunities they need. That we have to face such choices at all is a testament to how epic a failure Arnold Schwarzenegger has been for California. The LAO's report is damning: The state's revenue collapse is so dramatic and the underlying economic factors are so weak that we forecast huge budget shortfalls through 2013-14 absent corrective action. From 2010-11 through 2013-14, we project annual shortfalls that are consistently in the range of $22 billion , as shown below. Those are shocking figures, and they should indicate to every progressive and Democrat just how important it is to push out our own fairer, sensible, long-term solutions. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CL3n http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CL3n/commentary#comments Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:57:58 PST http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CL3n Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/profile_picture/8e501f6005c216fc9b_j8m6b99j3.jpg Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign 1 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CL3n/ One of the most important but so far overlooked narratives of this election cycle is the return of taxes as a major political issue. The recession is hitting government budgets just as that same downturn, combined with soaring gas prices and global warming is creating demand for new spending. Against this backdrop conservatives are now convinced that their way out of an ugly election cycle is to rally the public behind their rabid anti-tax politics. Constant attacks on Obama as a tax-raiser are partly to blame for McCain's recent rise in the polls. And here in the states Republicans are again turning to the tax revolt, their bread and butter for 30 years. Republican intransigence on the California budget is best seen as part of this national strategy to break Democrats on the tax rack. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CL3b http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CL3b/commentary#comments Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:38:27 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CL3b Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/profile_picture/8e501f6005c216fc9b_j8m6b99j3.jpg Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign 0 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CL3b/ It's 1995 all over again, as Republican-induced government shutdowns are all the rage. Congressional Republicans are planning a shutdown in September if they don't get their way on drilling, which looks to be their core electoral strategy going into November. Here in California the possibility looms as Republicans show no sign of budging on the budget . Saturday is the deadline for adding propositions to the November ballot, and as most budget solutions proposed have involved going to voters - whether it's Arnold's lottery bonds, his sales tax plan, or the Republicans' spending cap demands, the deadline becomes all-important: http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CL3q http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CL3q/commentary#comments Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:05:34 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CL3q Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/profile_picture/8e501f6005c216fc9b_j8m6b99j3.jpg Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign 0 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CL3q/ A few months late and several billion dollars short, Arnold has finally gotten around to making a serious revenue proposal - a 1 cent increase in the sales tax for a duration of three years. The SacBee reports this is expected to raise around $4 to $5 billion. Not one to offer a solution without strings, Arnold insists that this would only happen in exchange for "long-term budget fixes" such as a rainy-day fund. A rainy day fund is a good idea but that needs to come AFTER we fix the structural revenue shortfall . http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLqL http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLqL/commentary#comments Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:18:50 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLqL Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/profile_picture/8e501f6005c216fc9b_j8m6b99j3.jpg Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign 0 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CLqL/ Today's LA Times has an interesting series of op-eds by historians and authors examining how past governors dealt with budget crises . It's an interesting look not only at how those governors all helped build the prosperous state that we're living off of today, but also how the real problem with the budget isn't a lack of pragmatism or deal-making, but ideology. And since the articles were commissioned by California Forward they are particularly important in shaping how we will respond to this crisis. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLXk http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLXk/commentary#comments Sun, 15 Jun 2008 09:17:46 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLXk Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/profile_picture/8e501f6005c216fc9b_j8m6b99j3.jpg Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign 0 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CLXk/ I know, I know, it's too easy. But what better headline can one come up with to assess the ridiculous and ineffective solutions proposed by Leon Panetta's high-powered, high cost group of high Broderists to solve the budget crisis? George Skelton's column provides some of their early recommendations : http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLX8 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLX8/commentary#comments Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:26:43 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLX8 Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/profile_picture/8e501f6005c216fc9b_j8m6b99j3.jpg Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign 1 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CLX8/ The AP has gotten a hold of the governor's May Revise speech and therefore the major budget proposals that are to be unveiled later today. The key elements are described below and over the flip I provide some analysis of each proposal. Arnold will float bonds using the state lottery as security. $15 billion over 3 years will be raised but $10 billion goes into "rainy day fund" If that fails, 1% sales tax hike to last no more than 3 years Prop 98 suspension abandoned; instead COLA will not be paid State parks closures abandoned; instead fees to rise $1 to $2 $6 billion still left to cut or balance out somehow." Overall thoughts: Here we go again. Arnold Schwarzenegger came to office in the recall of Gray Davis in 2003 promising to solve our state's budget problems once and for all. Instead he immediately blew a $6 billion hole in the budget with the Vehicle License Fee cut and then borrowed to close the rest of the gap - costing the state around $3 billion in annual debt service. Now that Arnold's solution has predictably failed, he is predictably offering more of the same. Borrowing against the lottery is a problematic concept for many reasons, the main one being it avoids the core issues of our budget. It's yet another one-time fix that does nothing to solve the structural revenue shortfall that has plagued our state for 30 years. It is significant that Arnold seems to be backing away from his most significant cuts - especially the K-12 cuts. Obviously the details released tomorrow will be key, and we should fully expect higher ed to take another crippling blow. But this does indicate that the activism many of us have launched against the primary schools cuts has had an impact. And of course, there's still $6 billion left over - $6 billion that the Yacht Party will insist come in the form of destructive cuts that damage the economy, $6 billion that Democrats will - we hope - insist come in the form of wise, long-term revenue solutions. Finally, Arnold seems to be gambling that the economy will make a quick recovery and that the current woes are just a dip and not the opening stages of a deeper recession. That, I think, is a major and probably reckless gamble to make. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLZ3 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLZ3/commentary#comments Wed, 14 May 2008 08:37:06 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/CLZ3 Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/profile_picture/8e501f6005c216fc9b_j8m6b99j3.jpg Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign 0 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CLZ3/ Here in the dog days of April, as the state awaits the governor's May Revise, frustration seems to be setting in over the budget. The real political battles will begin in earnest after the May Revise, but the jockeying for position has been going on for some time, including in the state's media. Unsurprisingly, the media wants to spin the budget crisis as a failure of all Sacramento politicians, when in fact the current impasse is the responsibility of one group alone: the Republicans. As an article in Sunday's Sac Bee would have us believe , there is "scant support for budget changes." But a deeper look shows that while Democrats have already proposed budget fixes, such as closing the yacht loophole and creating an oil severance tax (as exists in nearly every other state), it is the Republicans alone that have blocked meaningful budget action. And why have they done so? Republicans want us to believe that *any* revenue solution is economically damaging: However, Sen. Dave Cogdill of Modesto, the GOP's incoming leader, said the state should not take away credits at a time when the economy is struggling. Other ideas that have yet to gain traction would raise income taxes on high-wage earners or amend Proposition 13 to assess businesses in the same way as residential property. The latter, known as "split-roll" property tax, would require that commercial and industrial properties be reassessed more regularly, bringing the state an estimated $3 billion annually. Cogdill dismissed all as non-starters. "We should help the general fund by stimulating the economy and be a more beneficial partner with industry, rather than stifling them," Cogdill said. But whose economy is stimulated by revenue cuts? Who actually sees this so-called economic growth? And who suffers from the spending cuts that are forced by the revenue cuts? A closer look at the overall situation shows that the Republicans' claims are nonsense. Tax cuts provide economic growth for a wealthy few, but cause economic distress for pretty much everyone else - *especially* when those tax cuts come at the expense of education. More below. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/BtX http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/BtX/commentary#comments Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:17:10 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/BtX Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/profile_picture/8e501f6005c216fc9b_j8m6b99j3.jpg Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign 1 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/BtX/ What began in Alameda last month is now beginning to spread around the state. As their future is taken from them by a Yacht Party determined to protect wealth and aristocracy through crippling education cuts, California students are beginning to fight back. In rallies that are unfolding across the state, they are speaking out for opportunity, for education, for democracy. And on April 18 and April 21, they are poised to make the loudest statement yet against the destruction of education in California. More on that below. But first, how is Arnold responding to the crisis in public education? The governor, whose own children attend private schools, made a fundraising visit to St. Margaret's Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano yesterday at the request of Mimi Walters , GOP assemblywoman and parent of two St. Margaret's students. He was met by over 200 protestors who denounced Arnold's education cuts : Chanting "Save our schools" and "Shame on you," about 200 teachers, students and parents from across South County lined the narrow sidewalks in front of a Mexican restaurant Thursday afternoon, protesting Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed education cuts as the governor rolled up for a fundraiser. Sheriff's deputies on foot and motorcycle ordered protesters to stay off the private driveway of El Adobe de Capistrano restaurant in the moments leading up to the governor's 6:15 p.m. arrival. Schwarzenegger entered the downtown San Juan Capistrano eatery through a side entrance and did not address the protesters. Schwarzenegger's communications director, Matt David, told reporters the governor "wishes he could be outside with these protesters" and that he applauded their efforts. "This is the last thing he wants to do," said David, explaining that the governor hoped to work with lawmakers to find a different solution to the state's budget crisis. "He understands how important it is to fund education." Of course, nobody forced Arnold to propose a $4 billion cut to K-12 funding. And he can reverse those cuts in his May revise. But he will get his chance to join these protestors over the next week, as California students are about to unleash an unprecedented wave of activism to stop Arnold and his attacks on public education. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/Btq http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/Btq/commentary#comments Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:48:27 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/Btq Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/profile_picture/8e501f6005c216fc9b_j8m6b99j3.jpg Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign 0 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/Btq/ Tomorrow night, thanks to your help and contributions, the Yacht Party video will air on cable TV  in Sacramento - specifically CNN, MSNBC, The Daily Show, and the Colbert Report. And our success has been getting attention. Lisa Vorderbrueggen at the Contra Costa Times writes: The ad has gotten quite a bit of attention. It’s a clever poke at Assembly Republicans who refused to close a tax that allows purchasers of boats, RVs and other recreational toys to keep them out-of-state for 90 days and and avoid paying sales taxes.... But at a time when the state may have to lay off thousands of teachers and cut services to the poor, the symbolism of allowing a yacht buyer to sit in Mexico for three months to avoid paying taxes is hitting a nerve.  This is a fantastic development - and as noted below, in the email we sent out to our members, it can get much better. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/BWz http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/BWz/commentary#comments Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:23:05 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/roberticruickshank/BWz Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/profile_picture/8e501f6005c216fc9b_j8m6b99j3.jpg Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign 0 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/BWz/