By John W. Lillpop
For a couple of hours Thursday afternoon, gooey-eyed Democrats thought they had devised a clever scheme to side step California's Constitution, which requires that tax increases must be approved by two-thirds of the state legislature.
What exactly was the brilliant Democrat Plan? Instead of calling taxes what they are, the lefties called them "fees," which supposedly does not require two-thirds approval.
With that sort of chicanery in their hearts, these politicians from the left passed a bill that would cut some costs but also increase taxes at a time when the economy is recession.
Democrats passed their "government by parsing" bill without any support from Republicans, and then it rushed over to the governor's mansion.
Deluded Democrats who thought that Schwarzenegger would actually sign their fiscal folly into law were not kept in suspense for long.
Within just a couple of hours, the governor announced that the bill was "dead on arrival," and that he would veto it.
As reported at Capitol Notes the governor said the following, (1):
"I was very disappointed," Schwarzenegger said. He then went on to say that the plan never met his definition of a solid economic stimulus, and rattled off a list that Capitol watchers have been hearing about since last night, like not enough public-private partnerships, and not enough public works projects exempted from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
"It is one thing when you say economic recovery package," he said. "But when you read through it, it actually doesn't do anything."
Bravo to the governor for his swift and firm rejection of this smug attempt to replace fiscal prudence with clever word smithing.
When it comes to higher taxes, state Democrats would do well to emulate President-elect Obama who concedes that raising taxes hinders economy recovery during bad economic times.
Republicans have a plan titled, "Republican Special Session Budget Plan," which includes $6.5 billion in revenue measures and $16.5 billion n spending reductions.
Together, these Republican-proposed actions would reduce the budget deficit by $22 billion-- without tax hikes.
In addition, the Republican plan proposes positive structural reform to ensure that California will never again face a devastating budget shortfall.
California's best hope for solving the current budget crisis and avoiding similar pain in the future is found in the Republican Special Session Budget Plan.
Link: (1)
http://blogs.kqed.org/capitalnotes/2008/12/18/it-fell-short-on-every-single-level/
