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Tax Test.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
California: The state has a chance to put the worst of its budget troubles behind it -- as long as the electorate can see through a spending-lobby scam.
Voters in what was once the nation's biggest fiscal wreck will be at the polls Tuesday with some tentative good news in the air. The economy is mending and the leadership has improved since October's much-derided recall.
But public employee unions and other pro-spending lobbies haven't gone out of business. They still call the tune for Democratic majorities in the state legislature. They led the state on a spending spree in the late 1990s that left it deep in the red. Now they want voters to approve potentially huge tax hikes and start the party again.
That's not how they frame the issue, though. Their measure, on the ballot as Proposition 56, is billed as a way to end "partisan gridlock" on state budgets. Toward that end, it has an interesting idea or two aimed at getting lawmakers to pass budgets on time. (Among other things, it would stop their pay after the budget deadline).
But this deadline talk is just window-dressing. The meat of Prop 56 is a clause that would lower the threshold for passing budgets and tax hikes from the current two-thirds of the legislature to 55%.
That percentage may sound a bit random, but it's actually a well-calculated Goldilocks number. It's not too low to sound like a majority party power grab, nor is it too high to keep the same party from winning. Democrats hold 60% of the Assembly and 62.5% of the Senate. With most legislative seats solidly safe for one party or the other, those figures aren't likely to change anytime soon.
...- Schwarzenegger: $4.4B in tax hikes to cut deficit.
- News wire article from: The America's Intelligence Wire November 6, 2008 700+ words
...that won't change. "The fact is that during this time of economic challenges is not the time to go back to California taxpayers and ask for more money from them," said Sen. George Runner, of Lancaster. The governor often has characterized...
- School officials fault tax-shift law: Act 1 is supposed to require voter...
- News wire article from: Reading Eagle (Reading, PA) April 15, 2007 700+ words
...savings from the spending plan to limit tax hikes to the rate of inflation. "Eighty percent...voters some control over school property tax hikes, Hopp and other school board members in Berks County predict referendums on tax hikes will be rare. A state law passed last...
- EDITORIAL: Minnesota tax hikes: Too much, too soon.(Editorial)
- News wire article from: Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, ND) March 30, 2007 700+ words
...reach is exceeding their grasp on tax hikes -- and if they're not careful, they'll finish the session with no tax hikes at all. Much more selectivity is...evidence compelling enough to justify tax hikes that could make Minnesota's income...
- EDITORIAL / Hasty tax hikes a threat to economic recovery/.
- News wire article from: Asia Africa Intelligence Wire December 2, 2003 700+ words
...Shimbun/Daily Yomiuri) EDITORIAL / Hasty tax hikes a threat to economic recovery Yomiuri...enough to stomach hastily implemented tax hikes. The growth in the gross domestic product...attempt to implement the entire plethora of tax hikes the tax panel calls for, the nascent...
- CORRECTION - President to consider legality of tax hikes by.
- News wire article from: Europe Intelligence Wire July 13, 2006 700+ words
...headlined "President to consider legality of tax hikes by next week", please read par one...decide by Monday whether law amendments on tax hikes approved by Parliament this week are...decide by Monday whether law amendments on tax hikes approved by Parliament this week are...
- Public schools may not need OK for big tax hikes until 2007: A bill passed by...
- Newspaper article from: Reading Eagle (Reading, PA) July 5, 2006 700+ words
...schools will not need permission for large tax hikes until the spring of 2007 under legislation...school districts get court approval for tax hikes greater than 3.91 percent for the 2006...Despite the law's prohibition on tax hikes above the inflation rate, state Department...
- Voters not getting say on school tax hikes: While it calls for referendums on...
- Newspaper article from: Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) June 3, 2007 700+ words
...state residents to vote on budgets with tax hikes above a state-set inflation index...cases they can impose double-digit tax hikes -- all without voter approval. For...Scranton residents don't get to vote on tax hikes; Act 1 instead provides them with wage...
- The Boston Globe Downtown column.(property tax hikes)(Column)
- News wire article from: Boston Globe (Boston, MA) Bailey, Steve April 4, 2007 700+ words
...communities are considering property tax hikes to close growing local budget gaps...solution. The 25 communities seeking tax hikes are like the worst dysfunctional days...Boston, like the 25 communities seeking tax hikes, could join the state's excellent...
- What Bush's Tax Cuts Need: Tax Hikes.
- News wire article from: The America's Intelligence Wire May 1, 2003 700+ words
...some $30 billion to $50 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts that he wouldd use...cut if it's paid for by offsetting tax hikes or spending reductions. That has sent...reason why Hill leaders are aiming at tax hikes that cut across all industries and sectors...
- Mention of tax hikes is reportedly taboo in campaigning for.
- News wire article from: Asia Africa Intelligence Wire August 29, 2005 700+ words
...reform.'' Both parties thus hint at tax hikes several years down the line, but remain...uses its manifesto to list proposed tax hikes and measures to increase revenue, and...indispensable for pension reform For prospective tax hikes, there is a tendency to rely on raising...