Gov. Jerry Brown: State budget deficit now $16 billion
Gov. Jerry Brown said in a video release today that California’s budget deficit has mushroomed to $16 billion, nearly twice as high as the $9.2 billion he estimated in January.
Gosh, what a stunning revelation! Who’d a thunk it?
But the good news is that it’s not Assemblyman’s Nathan Fletcher’s fault. He wasn’t at his post in Sacramento, so no responsibility for this deterioration falls on his shoulders.
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Good thing Gov. Moonbeam 2.0 turned in the petitions yesterday for his sales Tax Increase initiative, which will now be on the November state ballot. Excellent timing.
We elected people that have no motivation to create a real balanced budget. Then when we do pass an initiative (25) that gave our elected officials only a simple majority to pass a budget with the understanding that if they didn’t pass a budget, they wouldn’t get paid, they take it to a judge who rules in their favor and screws the voters (they get to keep their simple majority for approving a budget and will still get paid if they don’t pass a budget on time).
The voters prefer listening to grand promises than to real leadership that would force a real balanced budget every time. It’s not the politicians that are the problem but us. We vote them in. Shame on us!
I doubt that Fletcher could’ve actually have done anything against the Dems even if he had been present for those votes.
It’s only going to get worse next year if the Dems breach the 2/3 supermajority line…is the state GOP focusing on holding them off? That’s the real battlefield in this state with the Senate and Presidential races non-factors in CA at the moment.
It’s not really fair to say the deficit increased from $9.2B to $16B, because it was never at $9.2B. That number was conjured up Ol’ JB with mythical revenue projections and tax receipts that anyone with half a brain knew were not going to materialize (explaining why the California media, with a few exceptions, did not report it).
Heck, I’m actually shocked that it’s not more.
Chris C. If you want to know what Republicans are doing to avert a Dem supermajority. The answer is not a Dang thing. They are however, trying to beat incumbent Republlcan legislators in safe Republican districts. Witness Lil’ Charlie Munger dropping $300K+ in support of liberal Republican to beat Allan Mansoor. I’m sure Mike Stoker, Todd Zink, or George Plescia could use that money, but then that would mean Republicans actually doing something right for once.
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Chris C. says:
May 12, 2012 at 7:47 pm
I doubt that Fletcher could’ve actually have done anything against the Dems even if he had been present for those votes.
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Probably true. But then, if we have no voice in Sacramento representing that district, and if his vote doesn’t change the outcome on meaningful matters, that’s way we should adopt the reform I earlier suggested on Rostra: Elect a chimpanzee to the GOP-gerrymandered office, keep the primate housed in the SD Zoo for entertainment, and save well over a million dollars annually on the legislator and staff salaries and benefits.
One thing’s for sure, you don’t have to worry about a chimpanzee flip-flopping — except in the acrobatic sense.
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marshallplan makes an EXCELLENT point! The deficit has NOT grown — it’s simply been fully exposed. The projections were bogus from the day the budget was cobbled together, and EVERYONE knew that. Yet the governor and legislature failed to make meaningful reforms during the year.
No pension reform, no privatizing of prisons (common in other states), school vouchers (cuts per student cost 30%-60% while improving education), or other reforms. They just kept spending as usual, with only minor tweaks to claim “they’ve done all they can.”
It’s a crude attempt by Brown ET AL to bully Californians into passing a tax increase. Fortunately there are at LEAST three tax increases on the November ballot — and when that happens, voters usually vote “hell no” on all of ’em.
Let me correct myself. I said above that this year’s deficit has now been “fully exposed.” True? Not likely. We’ve still got 6 weeks of runaway state spending to go.
Fact Check time for themarshallplan.
“The Republicans” are not fighting an incumbent GOP legislator in O.C. In fact, the OC Republican Party is working hard to defend that State Assemblyman (Allan Mansoor), and he is endorsed by the State Party as well.
Among the “dang” things being done locally to increase GOP influence are (A) recruiting a top-tier candidate to win back Senate District 39 with George Plescia, who represented much of that area in the State Assembly. Mr. Plescia was recruited, in part, right here at
SD Rostra, and he has strong backing from the Senate GOP caucus.
(B) Recruiting a Top Tier candidate, Councilwoman Mary England of Lemon Grove, to regain Assembly District 79, and (C) Martin Garrick’s old AD 74 will now elect TWO Republicans to the Assembly under the new lines. Marie Waldron will represent the eastern portion (renamed AD 75), and either Rocky Chavez, Sherry Hodges or Farrah Douglas will win the western half, now called AD 76.
All of these fine candidates have put their personal lives on hold to fight the good fight for us in Sacramento. They deserve some major thanks and recognition!
Jim Sills, You are absolutley right in what you said. However, when we have people like Lil’ Munger spending $300K to defeat an incumbent in a safe seat, that means that we have to spend precious resources to ensure the incumbent wins, diverting funds from Republicans in competitive elections. It’s also the fact that those candidates in competitive seats are the ones who need the big money and they are not receiving it.
Regarding what the party is doing, I stand by my assertion. Too many times I have seen good or great candidates, some of whom the higher ups in the party recruited to run in hopes of winning, receive absolutely no help what whatsoever. Neither financial support , administrative help, or GOTV when it came to the general election. These are candidates who received over 40% of the vote and/or lost by less than 10%, and Democrats spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of thier candidate and in opposition to ours. Maybe things have changed. I hope they have. However, until we see changes, see the party going after more than a couple of seats in each election, I will continue to be skeptical.
I named specific names, and specific districts to support my arguments about SD legislative races in 2012.
The comment above offers us no details, no names, and no jurisdictions.
The SD Republican Party is 10 times stronger today than it was 15, 20 or 25 years ago. This was proven again in
2010 with the vital role it played for Lorie Zapf, Bill Horn, Ron Roberts, Ernie Dronenburg, Marie Waldron, Sam Abed, etc. Don’t take my word for it, ask any of those people if the RP-SD made a big difference for them.
Now that we have more competitive partisan districts under the new lines, the same impact will be felt at that level as well.
I was there, in the past, when the SD party had little impact, and so speak as an eyewitness of where we were then… and the MUCH stronger place we are now.
Jim,
I think that themarshallplan was referring to the State Party and it’s ineffectiveness, not San Diego’s local Party.
Jim – You and I are on the same side. We both want Republicans to win and do better. Alger is right. My issues are with the CRP and certain county GOPs throughout the state. The SDGOP is not one of them, heck along with the OCGOP they are the two best organizations in the state, and if the party is to gain, it would probably be Plescia and the 79th district.
Richard Rider -The current budget also counts on receiving $1.5B from the Facebook IPO. Hope they weren’t counting on Eduardo Saverin’s share, as he just renounced his U.S. citizenship. Wonder how many others are looking into every tax loophole available.
MarshallPlan and Alger:
Thank you for the clarification.
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Marshall, EVERY Facebook multi-millionaire should be considering establishing residence outside CA (preferably in a tax-free state such as Nevada) before they sell their shares.
There are other tax avoidance possibilities including my favorite — charitable remainder trusts. I’ve posted on Rostra before about his — also had a WS JOURNAL letter to the editor published on the matter in March.
All, found it:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304450004577277682992330176.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLEThirdBucket#articleTabs%3Darticle
WALL ST JOURNAL
LETTERS
March 14, 2012
Pushing Those Golden Geese Away
The California Facebook capital gains tax windfall is largely illusionary (“Facebook to the Non-Rescue,” Review & Outlook, March 8). If the recipients get any tax advice at all, they will consider relocating outside the state to make the sale. Indeed, they only have to live outside California for over half a calendar year to establish residency somewhere else.
If a shareholder takes such a one-time $10 million capital gain in California, he will pay about $1 million extra in state income tax. If Gov. Jerry Brown’s retroactive tax increase passes in November, he would pay about $1.2 million. If the union-backed tax increase passes, he would pay about $1.5 million in tax. If such a recipient moves to income tax-free Nevada for only six months, he’ll save anywhere from $165,000 to $200,000 for each month residing there just on capital gains, not counting the California income tax he’d save.
Other tax avoidance possibilities include charitable remainder trusts and donations. California’s best hope is that these lucky shareholders avoid the capital gain and later return to high-tax California to live. But many likely will find that income tax-free states are pleasant places to live after all—especially when one is rich.
Richard Rider
San Diego