Tax-raisers report they have collected 1 million signatures to qualify an $11 billion a year tax increase for the November ballot.

Tax-raisers report they will qualify an $11B tax hike for the Nov. ballot https://t.co/QituO4SJzF #Prop30 #NoNewTaxes

— HJTA.org (@HJTA) May 12, 2016

Prop 30 was sold to voters as a temporary tax increase – and the proposed 12-year extension isn’t temporary.

Was Prop 30 really "temporary?"

When Proposition 30 passed in 2012, Gov. Jerry Brown told voters that the increased sales taxes and income taxes would be temporary.

Was Prop 30 really "temporary?" ATR's @gopaulblair on the looming threat of taxmageddon in CA next year: http://t.co/inpxV5bEff

— ATR (@taxreformer) June 17, 2015

The Prop. 30 Tax Hike Should Retire on Schedule

◼ No matter how high taxes are increased, it’s never enough for public officials and bureaucrats who live off taxpayer funded paychecks. According to these people, there is always one more dollar that is needed to make government “whole.” And being made “whole” in California means maintaining the highest paid government employees in all 50 states. - Jon Coupal/Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

So it should come as no surprise that the tax-and-spend interests have already begun banging the drum and shaking the tambourine on behalf of extending Proposition 30, the “temporary” tax increase approved by voters in 2012. Proposition 30 imposed the highest income tax rate in America. It also bumped up the sales tax – a tax that hits lower income families particularly hard — to tops in the nation.

The sales tax component of Proposition 30 is set to expire at the end of 2016 and the higher income tax rate will sunset in 2018, so those who feed off taxes are starting to panic.

During the last year, some lawmakers resisted putting Proposition 2 on the November ballot because it required the establishment of a rainy day fund to tide government over through lean times. These Sacramento politicians were concerned that if it passed, and the state had money in the bank, it would be more difficult to make the case that the Proposition 30 taxes should be made permanent.

State schools chief Tom Torlakson came out for the extension of Proposition 30 long ago, and we are now seeing the head of one of the state’s two major teachers unions, the California Federation of Teachers, calling for its continuation while maintaining it is not enough.

Of course, it’s never enough....

UC’s new motto: Take the money and run

◼ link - Debra J. Saunders/SF Chronicle via Americans for Prosperity California

When Gov. Brown pushed Prop 30 in 2012, he sold his measure with the promise that the income and sales tax increases in his measure would put off sharp tuition increases in the higher education systems. Two short years later after state budgets that heralded a 4-year deal to keep tuition flat, UC solons say there never was a deal to freeze tuition. At the urging of UC President Janet Napolitano, the UC Board of Regents voted last month to raise tuition substantially — by up to 28% over 5 years — because there never was a meeting at which university officials pledged not to raise fees.

Wayne Winegarden: Prop. 30 tax hikes should be repealed

◼ Pacific Research Institute senior fellow says California doesn't need an extension of the Prop. 30 tax increases - we need lower taxes to stop jobs and productive citizens from leaving the state. - Orange County Register

...California’s problem was never about revenues – it was, and continues to be, about a lack of effective budgeting. Overly restrictive budget rules and lack of spending control in other budget areas (especially health care) are driving California’s budget problems and crowding out spending on everything else – including education. Just like a pay raise cannot save a shopaholic from bankruptcy, tax increases cannot solve California’s budget rigidity problems.

The consequences from Prop. 30 have been a further slowdown in California’s employment growth, greater pressure for businesses and people to migrate to other states and increased difficulty managing the state budget in the long run.

These adverse incentives will persist until the tax rate increases and additional budget rigidity Prop. 30 created are repealed.
Which brings us back to Prop. 30’s anniversary. The best way to celebrate is to make Prop. 30’s second anniversary its last.

Pension reform went nowhere until 2012, when the governor and Democratic legislators put together a watered-down reform package that critics saw largely as a political ploy to help encourage voters to pass the Proposition 30 tax measure (You can give us more money because we’re serious about reform!). Legislators have since declared the system “reformed” and have gone on to other things.

◼ JERRY BROWN IS ALL TALK ON TEACHER-PENSION MESS - Steven Greenhut/Human Events

...Brown calls for “a new funding strategy” and vows to “begin working with the Legislature, school districts, teachers, and the pension system on a plan of shared responsibility to achieve a fully funded, sustainable teachers’ pension system within 30 years.”

At his press conference last Thursday, he, too, fielded a question from a reporter wondering about his plans to deal with CalSTRS. The governor didn’t point to a Web site, but he did promise to begin meetings, which is a necessary start. But talking about a problem is one thing, and using one’s political capital to fix it is quite another.

"After picking the pockets and balancing California's budget on the backs of hardworking taxpayers through the largest tax increase in state history, Gov. Brown this morning declared all of California's problems magically solved”

◼ GOP candidate Tim Donnelly slams Gov. Jerry Brown's budget plan - LA Times

“It must be nice to view the state's problems through such rose-colored lenses. The reality is, a magnitude of problems still face California. The governor's surplus is a myth. It will be short-lived, as businesses flee the state to escape Prop. 30.”

Brown on Thursday morning unveiled a $155-billion budget proposal that would increase general fund spending by more than 8%, to $106.8 billion. With his administration projecting a $4.2-billion surplus at the end of June, Brown called for setting up a $1.6-billion rainy-day reserve fund, and for paying down $11 billion of the state’s debt. The proposal calls for a $10-billion infusion into schools and community colleges to make up for years of cutbacks, $1 billion in new money for higher education to ward off new tuition increases, and $670 million more for the state’s public healthcare system to deal with new enrollees because of the federal healthcare overhaul.

Donnelly faulted the plan for failing to tackle the state $218-billion unfunded pension liability, for including billions of dollars of new spending, for proposing to make it easier for cities to raise taxes and for shifting money to the high-speed rail proposal.

“The real bottom line: The fiscal outlook for millions of Californians isn't as rosy as Jerry Brown would have you believe," Donnelly said.

◼ Brown's GOP opponents respond to budget proposalv - UT San Diego

"...not a single penny" is dedicated to tax incentives or tax credits to lure people back to California.

"We're seeing people literally get a U-Haul and leave California, and he's spending money like it's 1999," (Donnelly) said.

◼ Jerry Brown's $107 billion California spending plan leaked - SF Chronicle

Wasn't the Prop. 30 tax hike supposed to be for education, not a $6 million mansion for Janet Napolitano?

◼ Via Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

Sacramento Spotlight: AB 110 – The Not-So-Balanced Balanced Budget

◼ Despite the claims from the Senate and Assembly Democratic caucuses or from Gov. Jerry Brown, calling this budget “balanced” is a stretch, to be kind. - Carson Bruno/Fox & Hounds

A quick look shows the spending plan relies upon temporary tax increases, fails to address unfunded pension and retiree obligations, pays down state debt slowly and – surprise – resorts to gimmicks to make the numbers work.

In November 2012, California voters passed Proposition 30, which increased the state sales tax by 0.25% and created four new “millionaire” tax brackets (10.3% for taxable income over $250,000, 11.3% for income over $300,000, 12.3% for income over $500,000, and 13.3% for income over $1 million). The additional revenue generated from the tax increases was sold to the electorate as strictly for education. However, while there is a debate as to whether the money is actually being spent on education, there is no doubt surrounding the temporary nature of the taxes. These taxes expire at the end of FY 2019 – meaning the estimated $6 billion in additional revenue will disappear with them.

Gov. Brown’s May budget revision balances only by ignoring unfunded liabilities

◼ link - Katy Grimes/Cal Watchdog

Brown is sticking to big spending on the controversial Common Core education program funding, primarily because of the influx of federal funds coming in if the state adopts the program. “$1 billion for the adoption of Common Core standards puts California in the forefront,” Brown said. Most Californians know just how important it is for California politicians to be at the forefront of every issue in America.

But Common Core is merely another one-size-fits-all, expensive national education standard that purports to be a fix-all to the continually dropping literacy scores — a problem created by the original education national standard.

“We have to get more kids through school in less time,” Brown said about higher education. “We’ve got 10 million immigrants [nationally]. We’ve got to get them legalized and into our schools.”

Other big spending programs include the Affordable Care Act, which will dramatically expand California’s publicly funded Medi-Cal health care program for low-income individuals. The ACA is another federal program Brown has embraced.

“California’s economy is not recovering at its full potential, weighed down, in part, by policy decisions made in Sacramento, like tax increases, the cap-and-trade program, and other regulatory burdens on state businesses. Regrettably, we are sending the wrong message to job creators in today’s May Revise,” Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, R-Camarillo, told media after Brown’s press conference.

◼ Jerry Brown to propose $1 billion for common core education standards
◼ As predicted, pensions eating up Prop. 30 education funds

Jerry Brown shifting $500M from CA Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to help balance budget, greens :( lat.ms/17uuZcF

— Wash. Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) May 15, 2013

◼ Gov. Brown chided for plan to borrow from cap-and-trade funds - LA Times

Gov. Jerry Brown sparked controversy Tuesday when he proposed to shift $500 million out of the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and loan it to the state general fund as part of the effort to balance the budget.

Tax increases exposed for not going to classrooms, funding government pension liabilities instead.

◼ California’s New Taxes Are Paying for Pensions - David Crane/Bloomberg via ◼ HJTA

What if a corporation raised $500 million in a securities offering on the premise that the proceeds would go for operating expenses, then disclosed a few months later that $300 million of this amount would instead be used to service a debt that wasn’t disclosed in the offering document?

This would be false advertising, subject to sanction by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Unfortunately, the SEC doesn’t have jurisdiction over state politicians engaging in the same behavior, and, in the case of California, involving sums that are 100 times bigger.

Last November, California politicians persuaded voters to support a proposed seven-year, $50 billion tax increase, largely on the vow that the money would go to public education. The first five words of the initiative’s title were “Temporary Taxes to Fund Education.”

Now, just four months after the election, the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office has announced that the California State Teachers’ Retirement System requires an extra $4.5 billion a year for 30 years -- $135 billion -- to cover its unfunded liability for teacher pensions and that the money will have to come from some combination of school districts and the state. To the extent that it comes from the school districts, $4.5 billion a year is 167 percent of the annual amount those districts expected from the tax increase. To the extent that it comes from the state, $4.5 billion is more than 100 percent of the annual amount it expected in new revenue.

◼ Prop. 30? Who cares? Tax hike fever is back - utsandiego.com

Even after passing a huge tax increase with Prop. 30, politicians are back with more tax increase proposals now targeting drivers, drinkers of sugary drinks, stores that use bags, mattress manufacturers and more.

The adage that “past performance is no guarantee of future results” may be appropriate advice when it comes to buying stocks, but it is belied on a yearly basis by the California Legislature. Year after year after year, lawmakers talk about their devotion to creating jobs. Year after year after year, we learn that the Democrats running the Capitol somehow think that higher taxes are the key to prosperity.

CSU officials want faculty pay raises, higher enrollment with Prop. 30 money

◼ link - Sacramento Bee via Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

Professors get Prop. 30 raises, not much money goes to students. Of the first $125.1 million to CSU, 69% went to faculty/staff, only 10% to reducing course bottlenecks to help students graduate.

DESPITE TAX INCREASE, CALIFORNIA STATE REVENUES IN FREEFALL

◼ California State Controller John Chiang has announced that total state revenue for the month of November 2012 fell $806.8 million, or 10.8%, below budget. - Chriss W. Street/Breitbart's BIG Government

Democrats thought they could hammer “the rich” by convincing voters to pass Proposition 30 to create the highest state income tax in the nation. But it now appears that high income earners have already “voted with their feet” by moving themselves and their businesses out of state, resulting in over $1 billion shortfall in corporate and income taxes last month and the beginning of a new financial crisis.

Passage of Proposition 30 set off euphoria and expectations of higher spending for public employees. The California Teachers’ Association (CTA) trumpeted: "California students and working families won a clear victory today as voters clearly demonstrated their willingness to invest in our public schools and colleges and also rejected a deceptive ballot measure aimed at silencing educators, other workers and their unions.”

State bureaucrats immediately ramped up deficit spending far beyond the state's $6 billion annual tax increase, with the Departments of Health Services and Developmental Services increasing this month’s spending by over $1 billion versus last year. The lower tax collection and higher spending drove the State’s deficit after the tax increase to $2.7 billion for the first 5 months of this fiscal year.

...As panic spreads that goosing taxes on the rich may have created enough “tax flight” that the California will actually collect less taxes, there was welcome news that a business had committed to opening in the State. Executives of the 99 Cents Only Stores Inc. proclaimed they would be opening a new location in Beverly Hills on formerly posh Rodeo Drive.

If U.S. hikes taxes, high-income Californians may pay nation's highest tax rate, almost 52 percent + sales tax, property tax, and ObamaTax

◼ Proposition 30 added three percentage points to the marginal state income tax rate for California’s highest-income taxpayers, bringing it to 13.3 percent. That action raised California over other high-tax jurisdictions to a marginal rate of 51.9 percent, slightly higher than New York City’s level. Hawaii was the only other place with a calculated rate above 50 percent. - Erika Johnsen/HotAir

…Ouch. We already knew that California was headed for a fall, but here’s yet another problem with top-down government and specifically with President Obama’s proposals to hike taxes across-the-board on those he deems wealthy, i.e. families making more than $250k/year. As Joel Kotkin writes for Forbes, it’s kind of odd that blue states voted so overwhelmingly against their own self-interest in reelecting Barack Obama, because the tax hikes he campaigned on will come down disproportionately hard on the economies of blue states.

From the comments: Don’t forget that the 1099 self employed folks who actually have a profit of over $250K, besides being taxed to the max in CA at 51.9% before property taxes, obamacare taxes, and sales taxes, will also have the social security and medicare taxes on top of the 51.9%.

AND don’t forget that Obamacare will tax you on the sale of your home a certain percentage, too. I am not sure if that hits in 2013 or 2014.

◼ High-income Californians may pay nation's highest tax rate - Dan Walters/Sacramento Bee

What Proposition 30 Means for California’s Entrepreneurs

◼ Prop 30 Hits Entrepreneurs the Hardest: Given the inherent risks entrepreneurs take just to start a new company, will they want to now take on additional tax and regulatory risk? The truth is, great tech start-ups can now be built almost anywhere. - allthingsd.com

Democrats voting state into ruin

◼ link - Times-Standard Letter to the Editor

This is an open letter to all of you Democratic voters:

By your recent actions, I can only assume that you love high taxes and fees. First, you passed Proposition 30, which raises already high sales tax even higher. It will not be a temporary four-year tax, and there is no accountability no matter what Jerry and his cronies tell you.

Next you approve a completely unbalanced state government (supermajority), which has the power to pick our pockets. A Democrat has never seen a tax he didn't like. Or a fee hike, either.

The election wasn't over even a week when state Sen. Ted Lieu said he'd like to triple the vehicle registration fee. That's just the start. Down the road, when you are whining about outrageous taxes and fees, don't blame the Republicans. Remember who you voted for on Nov. 6, 2012. Why should I be surprised? You must be the same voters that gave us another four years of Obama. Thanks for nothing.

Ed O'Connell
Eureka

Editorial: State not-so-golden for many

◼ New measure tags California as poorest state. - OD Register

New census data, which takes into account geographical differences in its "Supplemental Poverty Measure," ranks California as the poorest state in the nation. "The supplemental measure uses new poverty thresholds that represent a dollar amount spent on a basic set of goods adjusted to reflect geographic differences in housing costs. The official poverty thresholds are the same no matter where you live," said Kathleen Short, the report's author.

...California is a heavily blue state – marked by a harmful tax-and-spend culture. One way to reduce additional outmigration and further erosion of the tax base would be to do away with the state's income tax structure and replace it with a flat tax, which ensures individuals are less likely to underreport income and that Californians aren't punished disproportionally when income rises.

◼ Bust: California named worst-run state in the nation - HotAir

It should also be noted, the promise of maybe closing this year’s deficit is predicated on whether “lawmakers can resist more spending and the economy continues to improve.” I present to you, a supermajority Democratic legislature. Also, this delicious paragraph from the L.A. Times:

The election wasn’t even over Tuesday when state Treasurer Bill Lockyer’s phone started ringing. Activists of all stripes had the same message for him: With voters apparently poised to approve billions of dollars in tax hikes, it was time to spend more money.

“They had to be reminded the money has already been spent,” Lockyer said.

Editorial: Prop. 30's pension boost

◼ Taxes advertised for schools could go elsewhere. - OC Register

It took less than two weeks to confirm what we suspected: Much of the money from the Proposition 30 tax increases approved by voters is not going to go to schools, as advertised, but to teachers' pensions.

According to CalPensions.com, "More money for the underfunded California State Teachers Retirement System may be considered by the Legislature next year, thanks to new attention from lawmakers and a state budget deficit narrowed by a voter-approved tax increase this month."

...Gov. Jerry Brown, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, "wanted to keep quiet about CalSTRS' problems during the election. Now they're not being so quiet."

Should Voters Trust Jerry Brown To Spend Proposition 30 Taxes As Promised?

◼ The big question surrounding the measure that would save K-12 and higher education from billions of dollars in trigger cuts is whether Brown can be trusted to allot all the money derived from a rise in sales tax and income tax on wealthy Californians exclusively to education. According to UCLA professor and California state budget expert Daniel J.B. Mitchell, nothing can be as airtight as people want it to be. - Judy L. Wang/Neon Tommy

“Anything that is in the budget can always be overridden by the legislature,” Mitchell said. “There’s nothing that is absolutely set in concrete. There is no 100 percent guarantee. There’s always some way no matter what kind of formulas you have…there’s always way to re-channel revenue.”

The back and forth between 38 and 30 has brought down voter support for Proposition 30 from above 60 percent to below 50 percent in polls of likely voters. Mitchell said that Proposition 38 hasn’t gained too much momentum in those same polls either because middle class Californians are immediately turned off by the idea of an income tax raise.

Come Tuesday, Brown will not just be asking for a vote for education, but for a vote of trust as to where taxpayer money will actually end up.

REPUBLICAN VOTER GUIDE

◼ OFFICIAL CRP (California Republican Party)
BALLOT POSITIONS & ENDORSEMENTS:
QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

◼ Prop 30: Governor Brown's Tax Increase - OPPOSE
◼ Prop 31: State Budget Amendments - SUPPORT (CFRW OPPOSES)
◼ Prop 32: Paycheck Protection - SUPPORT
◼ Prop 33: Auto Insurance Coverage - SUPPORT
◼ Prop 34: Death Penalty Elimination - OPPOSE
◼ Prop 35: Human Trafficking Penalties - SUPPORT
◼ Prop 36: Three Strikes Reform - OPPOSE
◼ Prop 37: Genetically Engineered Food Labels - OPPOSE
◼ Prop 38: Tax Increase for Education - OPPOSE
◼ Prop 39: Multi-state Business Tax for Clean Energy - OPPOSE
◼ Prop 40: Redistricting Senate Districts - SUPPORT

◼ ELIZABETH EMKEN for U.S. Senate
◼ DAN ROBERTS for U.S. Congress
◼ MITT ROMNEY for President (Romney/Ryan)

ADDITIONALLY, THE HUMBOLDT COUNTY 

REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS:

◼ BARBARA HECATHORN
for Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District Div. 3
◼ JOE BONINO
for Eureka City Council 2nd Ward

__________________

OFFICIAL CFRW (California Federation of Republican Women) BALLOT POSITIONS:
QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

◼ Prop 30: Governor Brown's Tax Increase - OPPOSE
◼ Prop 31: State Budget Amendments - OPPOSE (CRP SUPPORTS)
◼ Prop 32: Paycheck Protection - SUPPORT
◼ Prop 33: Auto Insurance Coverage - SUPPORT
◼ Prop 34: Death Penalty Elimination - OPPOSE
◼ Prop 35: Human Trafficking Penalties - SUPPORT
◼ Prop 36: Three Strikes Reform - OPPOSE
◼ Prop 37: Genetically Engineered Food Labels - OPPOSE
◼ Prop 38: Tax Increase for Education - OPPOSE
◼ Prop 39: Multi-state Business Tax for Clean Energy - OPPOSE
◼ Prop 40: Redistricting Senate Districts - SUPPORT

◼ CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS SHARE THIS!