Editorial: Guv Brown Needs Tax Increase to Waste More Money and GROW the Deficit by Stephen Frank

Editorial: Guv Brown Needs Tax Increase to Waste More Money and GROW the Deficit by Stephen Frank

Stephen Frank for the California Political News and Views 8/5/12

You would think that a governor commanding a real deficit of around $50 billion, on a total budget of $210 billion, would look under every rock to find waste and corruption in the system. Instead, Brown has been more concerned with the raising of taxes than in the use of current taxes efficiently.

For some reason he begged private donors to pay to keep State parks open—all the while sitting on $54 million in slush fund reserves. We are all adults, would anyone smarter than a Fifth Grader believe Jerry did not know about the money. He and his staff are not that stupid or illiterate.

When this became known, a quick one week internal audit showed that the State had over $11 billion in agency reserve slush funds—the Guv claimed he only knew about $9 billion funds—but that was it. In the past few days another $119 million in slush funds came to light. That is why we need an independent audit of the system. It is obvious that State Controller John Chiang, a supporter of higher taxes, will use his office to protect the Governor and prove his inability to be honest about money to the Legislature or the people of California.

At the same time Jerry is crying he needs $50 billion of your money, he wants to do the following:

1. Spend $203 billion on a choo choo train that if built is guaranteed to lose money (no government transportation system in the United States can operate without a subsidy). Plus, by not meeting environmental laws and regulations, it assures that the construction could be held up for years. No one knows where the money will come from to actually build the system. In other words they are going to waste $13 billion on fraud, corruption and payoffs to special interests.
2. The Governor wants to build a tunnel—for $23 billion—to take water from the north and move it south. Yet, the proposal does not address the main issues—government regulations stopping water being delivered and the protection of prime farm land from government action killing up to a million acres.
3. In a deal with the unions, Brown is ending contracts with out of State prison systems which cost California $61 per day to house criminals. Now, thanks to Brown paying off his union donors, we will be paying $131per day to house criminals inside the State. This is a waste of tax dollars, but a return on investment for union donations to the Brown campaign for Governor.
4. He is extorting parents to vote for his tax increase. Either vote to take food from your table or money for education would be cut. He could end the union monopoly over education and save money. Brown could allow vouchers and more charter schools—both of which are provide better education and cost affective.
5. The biggest immediate problem is the insolvency of the government pension system. The Brown plan has not a single Democrat supporter—but he can pretend he is addressing the issue. His approach is another political ploy to hide the fact the unions do not want change—they want a bailout.

The latest scandal coming to light is the use of doctored data to approve the repairs to the Bay Bridge in San Fran. In June the Brown administration lied to the public by saying the data showed the Bridge was repaired right—when they knew this is a lie.

Is this the type of man you would trust with another $50 billion—of which not a dime will go to the lowering of the deficit?

In November we will have the Brown/union tax increase of $50 billion, the Steyer tax of a billion a year—with money going to “green hedge funds” (Steyer is a green hedge fund manager) and the granddaddy of them all, the Munger $120 billion tax increase without education reform or accountability. Oh, the Munger plan, at the end of the day will not add a dollar to the classroom—instead the money currently used for education will be moved out of education—replaced by the Munger dollars. In other words, this is a way to increase the size of government in the name of our children.

The people will see through all of this and defeat the self serving, big government tax increases. With a Federal announcement real unemployment rate of over 20%, Californians can not affords to make the State Depression worse and grow government. No amount of stolen union money, or the personal wealth of individuals, will convince families to vote for higher taxes.

If you trust government, vote Yes—if you understand government, you will vote No on all tax increase, both statewide and local.