Stop Sales Tax Increase (Los Angeles: mortgage, how much, buying)

[katenik]

Governor Schwarzennegger is proposing a statewide 1.5% sales tax increase he claims is necessary to overcome the budget shortfall. He claims it would be temporary, but if you believe that, I have a sub-prime mortgage to assign you.) He is also considering expanding the sales tax to apply to services such as personal grooming, veterinary care, and car repair, among other consumer activities. (It appears he has enough sense to not suggest taxing health care services...for what that's worth.)

On Tuesday, voters in Los Angeles county voted in .5% sales tax increase, which goes into effect next July. How anyone in this state, in these economic times, can either propose or approve new taxes, I'll never know, but that's what the majority of you did, so so be it. However, we are now looking at the possibility of the sales tax rate here in Los Angeles County being increased to 10.25% before the end of next year! That means we would join Chicago in the dubious distinction of having the highest sales tax in the nation!

Many of you who post here are artists who wait tables to pay the bills, and you must realize that such a hefty tax increase will come at your particular expense, because tipping you even the minimum socially acceptable amount would mean spending 25.25% above the menu price. Do not doubt for a minute that consumers who feel they have paid 'enough' for whatever you're serving will simply tip you less to reduce their total bill.

Please call the governor's office, and that of your representatives in the Senate and Assembly and urge them to oppose any effort to increase California's sales tax rate. We in LA County are already in it for 1.5% above the state minimum sales tax, and I, for one, will not sit by idly and watch that figure double.

[EscapeCalifornia]

This state is so done. When are people going to wake up?

[Lafferty Daniel]

I don't have any problem paying the proposed tax. I'd love to see our state get out of the red, and hopefully one day we'll be able to have an innovative mass public transportation grid in Los Angeles County.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Perkins Well

I don't have any problem paying the proposed tax. I'd love to see our state get out of the red, and hopefully one day we'll be able to have an innovative mass public transportation grid in Los Angeles County.

So where do you draw the line? 60% income tax and 40% sales tax? $2000 to register a car every year? Giving more money to the government is like giving more whiskey to an alky to calm him down.

[Mike121]

The majority of my taxed income still goes to the federal government. If only we could get the federal government to push some of that tax money toward education and infrastructure...

[Charles]

When I lived in California I paid twice as much in property taxes (including some Mello Roos) as I did in federal income taxes. In California (unlike Alabama) food isn't (sales) taxed.

[katenik]

Originally Posted by Perkins Well

I don't have any problem paying the proposed tax. I'd love to see our state get out of the red, and hopefully one day we'll be able to have an innovative mass public transportation grid in Los Angeles County.

good! if it is imposed, i'll send you all my receipts and you can pay mine, too.

[greggd]

Originally Posted by Mike121

The majority of my taxed income still goes to the federal government. If only we could get the federal government to push some of that tax money toward education and infrastructure...

I would like to see that as well. We spend quite a bit of our budget on education and it doesn't appear to be as efficient as it used to be.

I would be curious to see the amount of money this state spends on un-necessary items, like vandalism, Youth detention centers, grafitti, cost of theft, cost of gangs, litter removal etc. I'm sure it's a drop in the bucket compared to what is required, but it would be nice to call the offending citizens/parents onto the carpet to accept responsibility with this unessessary waste of tax dollars.

[Joe_Ryder]

Just once I'd like to see a politician, any politician, any where, that would address the issue of government waste instead of simply grabbing more. Of course I remember when the Governator first took office, he tried to make the schools and several other government entities actually account for where the money was going. It seemed perfectly reasonable to me but he caught hell for it. I tend to think that when someone running a public program puts up such a fuss when asked to tell where the money goes that perhaps they protest too much and have something to hide. Maybe Arnie just gave up and fell in line with the same old song and dance of continually throwing even more money at failed projects. I wouldn't have an issue with increased registration taxes as long as it only applies to vehicles purchased AFTER the date of the tax. Maybe it'll discourage people from buying over priced look-at-me SUVs they probably can't afford anyway.

If the public agencies were run by business people instead of bureaucrats, costs would drop and quality would rise but that makes too much sense. The bureaucrats would never go for it. I find it amazing the state can always find huge chunks of cash to commission some self proclaimed artist to construct a monolithic eyesore who's sole function is to sit there and collect pigeon crap yet they're always grubbing around in my pocket looking for any change I might have left at the end of the day.

Up here where I live, that'll put my sales tax just under 10% Yippee! We've got sales tax, income tax, property tax, personal property tax...the list goes on. Prepared food is even taxed! What are they doing with all that money?

[skreem2]

Mixed feelings here - I use public transportation regularly and want to see it expand. I am also a teacher in LA Unified and know FIRST HAND just how much money is wasted by LA Unified. Yes, I would give a finger or toe in exchange for an outside team of auditors to come in and seriously examine the school district budget.