California: The Tax Me More State (live in, housing, approval)

[Obi_Wan_Kenobi]

Originally Posted by UB50

I don't think the taxes are terribly high in California.

What I do think is high are housing costs.

I wish the Rent Is Too Damn High guy was running in this state.

Part of the reason for higher housing costs, is due to taxes.

The ones you don't see.

Each contractor who builds, pays for a license. One that is not essential, if homeowners would screen on their own, and require bond and insurance. I consider license fees to really be a type of a tax. Their building materials and tools have a tax - right? The fuel used for all the contractors going to the site daily had a tax, right? There's a lot of hidden taxes in a house. Then add that to all the other hidden taxes we pay, and its likely that 1/2 our paychecks feed some form of tax.

One thing is certain, California will either elect the same basic politicians, or it will come close.

Why is it that so many people are not satisfied with the work performance of people like Boxer or Pelosi, yet they keep putting them into office election, after election, after election?

Even if the alternative candidates are not all that great, wouldn't it be worth trying once in a while?

[jeffredo]

What a load of crap. Proposition 25 restores California to the simple majority that 47 other states uses to pass their budgets. Only Arkansas and Rhode Island have super majority requirements like we do. What good company. A simple majority makes sense - the electorate we have was not chosen by the voters so a minority can hold up the budget process. That's not democracy. If you aren't happy with the results, vote the bums out (like those 47 other states do).

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by jeffredo

What a load of crap. Proposition 25 restores California to the simple majority that 47 other states uses to pass their budgets. Only Arkansas and Rhode Island have super majority requirements like we do. What good company. A simple majority makes sense - the electorate we have was not chosen by the voters so a minority can hold up the budget process. That's not democracy. If you aren't happy with the results, vote the bums out (like those 47 other states do).

But the legislature you have was not chosen by the voters at all. It was chosen by the elected when they gerrymandered the various districts and created "safe" ones to keep incumbents in power.

California is the only state I'm aware of in which the politicians choose their voters, not the other way around.

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by jeffredo

What a load of crap. Proposition 25 restores California to the simple majority that 47 other states uses to pass their budgets. Only Arkansas and Rhode Island have super majority requirements like we do. What good company. A simple majority makes sense - the electorate we have was not chosen by the voters so a minority can hold up the budget process. That's not democracy. If you aren't happy with the results, vote the bums out (like those 47 other states do).

It can definitely be argued that the 2/3 majority required too many back-door deals to get. Back-Door deals always come with a price tag. There's all kinds of dealing that must be done just to secure a simple majority. I'm sure that's just one of many reasons the state spends so much.

[LASam]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

California is the only state I'm aware of in which the politicians choose their voters, not the other way around.

That's probably going to end with today's vote.

[wburg]

Maybe we should just stop subsidizing those welfare states in the middle of the country--only about three-quarters of every federal dollar we send to the feds comes back to California, the other 25 cents goes to low-population states that receive more federal support than they can afford to send.

California is big and complex to run because we are a state of 40 million people, with an enormously complex economy. It's not a place that is simple to run, no matter how folksy and homespun you are. No matter how hard some folks really want to turn back the American social clock 100 years, it's not going to happen because it is a horrifyingly bad idea to do so.

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by Obi_Wan_Kenobi

Part of the reason for higher housing costs, is due to taxes.

The ones you don't see.

Each contractor who builds, pays for a license. One that is not essential, if homeowners would screen on their own, and require bond and insurance. I consider license fees to really be a type of a tax. Their building materials and tools have a tax - right? The fuel used for all the contractors going to the site daily had a tax, right? There's a lot of hidden taxes in a house. Then add that to all the other hidden taxes we pay, and its likely that 1/2 our paychecks feed some form of tax.

One thing is certain, California will either elect the same basic politicians, or it will come close.

Why is it that so many people are not satisfied with the work performance of people like Boxer or Pelosi, yet they keep putting them into office election, after election, after election?

Even if the alternative candidates are not all that great, wouldn't it be worth trying once in a while?

Few realize this, or at least don't vote off this. Many voters focus on their income taxes. Next in line would be the sales tax they pay. The government has all sorts of other taxes they can levy that ultimately get paid by consumers. Businesses have profit margins they want to maintain. When their costs increase they have to make up the difference somewhere. Sometimes they increase efficiency, sometimes they ship jobs overseas, and often times they increase prices. I kinda laugh when I hear people wanting us to tax business more. They honestly don't know that they ultimately pay for it. But that's still not as funny as all of the people slamming those evil corporations who have no idea that if they have a 401K plan, they own part of those companies...even those nasty banks.

[wburg]

When there is an earthquake in the Third World, tens of thousands of people die. When there is an earthquake in the United States, a few people get injured. Why? Government-enforced building codes. In the right-wing paradise, life is cheap and disposable, and so is the housing.

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by wburg

When there is an earthquake in the Third World, tens of thousands of people die. When there is an earthquake in the United States, a few people get injured. Why? Government-enforced building codes. In the right-wing paradise, life is cheap and disposable, and so is the housing.

Are you really suggesting that only liberals believe in building codes to protect against earthquakes? And that the right-wing thinks life is cheap and disposable? Geez, extremists are coming out of the woodwork tonight.

[GregHenry]

Originally Posted by CarawayDJ

Are you really suggesting that only liberals believe in building codes to protect against earthquakes? And that the right-wing thinks life is cheap and disposable? Geez, extremists are coming out of the woodwork tonight.

If the right wing had its way, we'd all be working 14 hours a day, seven days a week, with no workplace safety while our military fights wars to ensure cheap raw materials for industry.

Wait, that second part actually happens.

The right wing is doing everything to ship jobs to China where workplace conditions are in that 1901 state the industrialists thought was idyllic.