You Are Not Free In California (Morro Bay, Freedom: house, utilities, taxes)

[sunshine7793]

When I say taxes are ridiculously high I mean to say that our tax policy punishes and discourages hard work and success. Anyone not believe that?

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by sunshine7793

When I say taxes are ridiculously high I mean to say that our tax policy punishes and discourages hard work and success. Anyone not believe that?

(Raises hand) Memememe!

I know a lot of people who know a lot of people who know a lot of people in CA who work hard and are successful.

One measure of success: Enjoying the CA sunshine and innumerable things to do while refraining from constant tortured whining about taxes (real or imagined) or Black Helicopters.

[sunshine7793]

The top CA rate on hard workers (high earners) is over 13%. Add the top federal rate of 43% with Obamacare taxes and you've got a 56% rate for the guy who busts his ass. That does not include the myriad of property taxes, fees on his business, sales taxes, etc, etc, etc.. All together he pays 60% of his last dollar earned in taxes? Maybe 65%?

Then why would he earn that last dollar? Why not just stop earning? And if he does stop then who creates the jobs needed to grow our economy? Who expands their businesses?

Please don't give me that pablum about not needing to grow an economy. So long as babies are being made and our borders are wide open we need economic growth. And who will provide that when you kill the golden goose?

Meanwhile Texas and other states have no income tax. My hard working guy may decide to go there where he is welcomed for his hard work and not punished.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by sunshine7793

All together he pays 60% of his last dollar earned in taxes? Maybe 65%?

.

Do you know anybody who actually pays this much in taxes? Especially if we are talking about the rich..hell no.

[Think4Yourself]

Originally Posted by chuckmann

And you, apparently, have no interest in how the California state legislature continues to steal private property from homeowners.

Not surprising!

OK, my confused and befuddled friend, please do tell us how zoning laws are theft so that I may stomp on your weak and confused "logic".

[sunshine7793]

Yes, I personally know a guy who has a business that he has grown over the last 25 years. He has 800 employees working at nine locations. Several of the locations are outside CA, but he is a CA resident so he pays CA taxes. Yes, he does pay the 13.3% CA rate on some of this income. And it does affect his business growth. He has a good business model and would like to add additional locations. Each new location adds about 100 new employees, but high taxes slow him down. If the tax burden were removed he could grow faster and create new jobs faster.

It's worth noting that his CA operations are those that were started when he first went into business. These days he opens most new locations out of state.

There may be people like Warren Buffet who get their earnings through capital gains and employ an army of tax dodgers (lawyers) in order to pay little in taxes. But there are those like my friend who cannot avoid the huge California tax bite and must pay it.

[sunshine7793]

If you designate someone's private property as unfit for the purpose for which he in good faith bought it you have essentially taken/stolen it. He may have owned it for decades before the unelected bureaucrats declare it unusable. That's just tough luck for him. Happens a lot in CA and less in places with more economic freedom.

[Think4Yourself]

Originally Posted by sunshine7793

If you designate someone's private property as unfit for the purpose for which he in good faith bought it you have essentially taken/stolen it.

Wrong. If someone buys agricultural land and wishes to have it rezoned into something else, like a development, but the county refuses to do so then the person has lost absolutely nothing at all. He bought agricultural land and he still has agricultural land. Nothing has been taken away from him.

Now, this guy was no doubt speculating hoping that he could get it rezoned and make a quick killing but often that simply is not going to happen for any number of reasons. Maybe there are insufficient connecting roads for the proposed population, maybe it would have very negative impacts on neighboring land owners, or dozens of other legit concerns in a densely populated environment. The bottom line is the guy still has exactly what he originally bought (agricultural land) and refusing to rezone it when ever he wants doesn't deprive him of the property he bought; the courts have ruled on this numerous times and they all say your position is fallacious and without merit.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by sunshine7793

If you look closely at the methodology behind the study you'll see that the following categories comprise 60% of the weight in the rankings: Tax Burden, Tort Abuse, Property Rights Protection, Labor Market Freedom, Gun Control and Education Policy. With Tax Burden and Tort Abuse comprising 40% of the weight.

Anyone care to argue that California does not deserve it's low ranking in those areas? Anyone actually believe that lawyers are not a menace to businesses in CA or that CA taxes are not ridiculously high? Add to that things like the fascist coastal commission meddling in property rights and oppressive gun laws and you see why CA deserves to be at the bottom of the list.

California also has one of the lowest property tax rates in the country.

Gun control can be seen as a positive to many. I personally don't want guns being sold easier than liquor.

I enjoy our beautiful pristine coastline.

I have no idea what you are talking about labor market freedom because my friends can fire or hire whoever they want.

Property rights, I'm happy my neighbor can't use their front lawn as a junk yard.

[sunshine7793]

Here's a landmark case where the coastal commission attempted to blackmail a landowner into giving up some of his land in order to get permission to build. These cases are all over the internet - just look.

Nollan v. California Coastal Commission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Imagine the cost and grief incurred by the landowner in fighting a huge bureaucracy like the coastal commission? The government goons don't care what costs are incurred.