A number of you have seen my fact sheet “Breaking Bad — California vs. the other States.” If you have not, ingest your preferred recreational drug of choice and then open this URL for the latest version:
http://tinyurl.com/CA-Breaking-Bad-3-26-10
Since I continuously update this fact sheet, it’s hard for my regular readers to spot what’s been changed or added. Here’s the ten “new” changes I’ve added of late:
1. California is the worst ranked state for tax administration – another anti-business factor.
http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/2010/03/cal-rated-worst.html
2. California needlessly licenses more occupations than any state – 177.
Second worst state is Connecticut at 155. The average for the states is 92.
http://cssrc.us/publications.aspx?id=7707
3. California is ranked 27th worst in per capita property taxes (including commercial) – the only area where we are not in the worst ten states. But CA property taxes per home were the 10th highest in the nation in 2008.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/251.html and http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/1913.html
4. In 2009, 24 states raised their taxes at least 1% to collect $28.6 billion. California’s taxes went up over $12 billion – thus we were responsible for about 42% of all the state tax increases in the nation. http://tinyurl.com/2009CA-Tax
5. Fourth highest unemployment rate in the nation. (February, 2010) 12.5%. National unemployment rate 9.7%. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm
6. LA Unified School District spends over $25,000 a year per student. http://tinyurl.com/LAUnified-25K
7. California now has the lowest bond ratings of any state, edging out Louisiana. http://tinyurl.com/CA-worst-bond-rating
8. As of 2008, California ranks 46th worst in “lawsuit climate” — up from 44th the year before. http://tinyurl.com/CA-44th-lawsuits
9. Protests about increased UC student fees ignore one crucial point — all poor and most middle class students don’t pay the “fees” (our state’s euphemism for tuition)! There are no fees for California families with under $70K income. Moreover, Pell Grants and federal tuition tax credits cover the total 2009-10 fee increases for nearly 3/4 of all undergraduates with household incomes below $180K. http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/blueandgold/ and www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/22415
10. California residential electricity costs an average of 37.2% more than the national average (far higher in San Diego County). For industrial use, CA electricity is 44.6% higher than the national average (December, 2009). http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table5_6_a.html