TAXING "THE RICH" WORKING OUT SWIMMINGLY IN CALIFORNIA: Revenues to State Fall 10 Percent

Who could have predicted such a phenomenon?

California ... state revenue for the month of November 2012 fell $806.8 million, or 10.8%, below budget.

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...

Who could have predicted such a phenomenon?

Oh, wait. I did. Just three short weeks ago*.


*See: DELUSIONAL: California Predicts Budget Surplus in 2014 Thanks to Tax Hikes, Anti-Business Regulations.

BUT IT'S ALL ABOUT FAIRNESS: 144,000 households, 1 percent of taxpayers, pay half of California's income taxes

Fairness. That's the word I associate with massive, bloated, Democrat-controlled failed states like California.

...One of the more egregious aspects of Brown’s [Proposition 30] is the retroactivity of the income tax increase, which would apply to all income earned after January 1, 2012. [Imposition of] this retroactive tax hike makes it clear to businesses that if they want some semblance of certainty in tax planning, they must leave California. Campbell’s Soup, Comcast, and Samsung have been the latest to come to this realization; either shutting down facilities in-state or moving operations outside of California.

California residents already contend with one of the most progressive tax codes in the country. Not only does California have high marginal rates, those high rates kick in at relatively modest income levels. California’s middle class residents earning $48,000 a year, for example, pay a state tax rate of 9.3%. Millionaires in 47 other states don’t even pay that high of a marginal rate. However, one of the state tax code’s greatest flaws is it’s over-reliance on upper income households and the revenue volatility it creates, and that is a problem that Prop. 30 would further exacerbate.

As of 2010, the state relied upon 144,000 households, 1 percent of taxpayers, for 50 percent of total state income tax... [With Proposition 30's passage,] the top 10 percent of earners would be responsible for over 80% of the projected income generated - a fact that Gov. Brown and other advocates of the bill readily acknowledge.

California is destroying itself -- the U.S. is next.

DELUSIONAL: California Predicts Budget Surplus in 2014 Thanks to Tax Hikes, Anti-Business Regulations

There's crazy -- and then there's West Coast Crazy:

When is a prediction of a $1.9 billion shortfall actually considered good news?

In deficit-battered, recession-weary California, that's the case.

It sounds strange, until you consider that it sounds a whole lot better than the staggering $41 billion deficit projected at the end of 2008 -- and much better than the $25 billion hole that the state's Legislative Analyst was forecasting in 2010. And much more rosy than the $16 billion shortfall Gov. Jerry Brown was projecting just last spring.

On Wednesday, the Analyst's office -- respected for its nonpartisanship -- said its $1.9 billion deficit estimate covers the next year-and-a-half. The report cast the state's recovering finances in a favorable light, thanks to earlier budget cuts and the voter approval of Proposition 30.

"The additional, temporary taxes provided by Proposition 30 have combined to bring California a promising moment: the possible end of a decade of acute state budget challenges," the LAO report said.

In fact, the report floated the possibility of the state actually running a surplus of up to a billion dollars by 2014.

Let me be the first to predict that California will not have a budget surplus in 2014. Nor will it run "only" a $2 billion deficit.

By my estimation, California's budget deficit will run at least an order of magnitude higher -- at $20 billion plus. You can stick a fork in the Golden State.

Why California is headed for fiscal collapse, Chapter Bajillion and Seven

I'll let the Mercury News describe the latest episode of public sector unions ripping off taxpayers for hundreds of millions:

An analysis of the last three years of government salary data shows state employees are continuing to store up massive banks of vacation, instead of heading to Big Sur or hitting the slopes at Lake Tahoe. They're cashing in by retiring with whopping final paychecks worth, in some cases, more than $500,000 in unused time off.

From 2009 through 2011, cash-strapped California paid more than $800 million for days off state workers never used -- a problem that has grown by tens of millions of dollars in the four years since this newspaper first investigated the costly practice...

It's an accounting liability that private companies work aggressively to avoid, but one that continues to pile up in Sacramento. And, ironically, the problem grew even worse in recent years when the state tried to save cash by forcing workers to take unpaid furlough days as an emergency budget fix. As a result, banks of unused vacation grew even larger.

"Is the system broken? Obviously the system's broken," said Tim Malan, a supervising dentist at Avenal State Prison, who retired in 2009 with 247 days off still on the books, sweetening his final paycheck by an extra $317,000... Like Malan, more than 4,000 people retired from the state over the past three years with an extra $50,000 more for unused vacation and comp time, the newspaper's analysis of pay data from 153 state departments shows. That's almost four employees cashing out at least that much money every day. An additional 16,302 state workers retired during the three-year period with payments from $10,000 to $50,000 each...

...Topping the list was Napa State Hospital psychiatrist Dr. Gertrudis Agcaoili, who retired after 33 years with 642 days of accrued vacation and comp time. It cost taxpayers nearly $609,000.

How did she manage to bank so much time?

"It's none of your business," Agcaoili said in a brief telephone interview...

No, it's none of the taxpayers' business.

California is broke, its system of government is broken, and the infernal alliance of Democrats and public sector unions are the primary culprits.

It's hard to imagine how it gets fixed without a complete collapse and a reboot from scratch.

TURBOTAX SHERROD BROWN: Ohio's far left Senator keeps hiking our taxes while dodging his own

According to the National Journal's rankings, Sherrod Brown was the most left wing Senator based upon his votes in 2010.


But that's not the worst of it. While voting for some of the most massive taxpayer ripoffs in history -- including Obamacare -- Brown was avoiding paying his own taxes.

Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown was more than four months delinquent in paying taxes on his Washington, D.C., apartment and had to pay a penalty and interest last week.

This was not the first time, records show.

Brown also was delinquent in 2006 and 2007 and paid penalties and interest, according to tax records from the District of Columbia.

"I was late," he said on a conference call with reporters when asked about the recent delinquency. "I misplaced the bill and I paid it as soon as I found out. I paid a penalty for being late, and it won't happen again."

When a reporter noted that it also happened five and six years ago, Brown said: "I misplaced it then. This is a small apartment. I'm not in D.C. nearly every week, I'm here when the Senate's in session, I'm here three or four nights a week. I paid the penalty. And in no way, obviously, was I avoiding taxes."

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel -- an ex-Marine and a brilliant financial mind -- has faced an onslaught of negative advertising from Sherrod Brown and his far left cronies.

Click here to pink-slip this disgraceful hack and send him back to wherever the hell it is he came from.

SOMEONE IN SACRAMENTO NEEDS TO LAY OFF THE PEYOTE: Gas prices in Cali spike an all-time record $0.20 in one day

The working people of California have to be extremely pleased with the left-wing eco-Marxists who control their state. Sacramento's insane push towards non-existent green energy sources -- wind, solar, and unicorn farts -- seems to be working out really well... if the goal is to de-industrialize the state.

Supposedly good news for Obama in the unemployment report, but very very bad news for commuters in Los Angeles:

LOS ANGELES – The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County recorded what is believed to be its largest single-day increase today, rising 19.2 cents to $4.539 — its highest amount since July 12, 2008.

The average price has increased by more than 1 cent on each of the past seven days, including 8.8 cents on Thursday and 5.8 cents on Wednesday. It is now 40.3 cents more than a week ago, 36.4 cents higher than a month ago and 71.5 cents greater than at this time last year, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

Yesterday it was reported that prices were so high, some gas pumps are simply shutting down:

Gasoline station owners in the Los Angeles area… are beginning to shut pumps as the state’s oil refiners started rationing supplies and spot prices surged to a record.

“We’re going to start shutting pumps Friday,” Sam Krikorian, owner of Quality Auto Repair in North Hollywood, said by phone yesterday. “Gas is costing me almost $4.75 a gallon with taxes. There’s no sense in staying open. The profit margins are so low it’s not worth it.”

This is exactly why Capitalism just doesn’t work – they should keep their pumps open not for filthy dirty profit, but for their love of community!

But, hell, who needs Keystone XL, Alaska, or offshore oil anyhow?

ANOTHER DEMOCRAT SUCCESS STORY: Estimate of California's real debt upped from $28 billion to... $335 billion

It must be fun to be a progressive. You get to spend money wildly without regard for who earned that money nor who will have to repay the loans you take out. I refer, of course, to Democrats in general... but also to Blue States like New York, Illinois and -- especially -- California:

Oh look, California is actually $335 billion in debt

The independent State Budget Crisis Tax Force [PDF] has released its analysis of California's finances and found that rather than being a whopping $28 billion in debt, as Gov. Jerry Brown alleged with he came to office, the state is actually a nearly unfathomable $335 billion debt. Brown called it a "wall," as the New York Times noted. But it's really more like a dozen walls. All stacked on top of each other to make a mega-wall that blocks out the Sun. 

This is not an exaggeration. Californian's total level of debt, on an off the books, is pushing a fifth of the total annual economic output of the state, which is about $2 trillion.

Some of the usual suspects are responsible for this: overspending and undertaxing during boom times, colossal pension liabilities, taking on too much debt. But the report zeroed in on ... a California tax system that relies far too much on the incomes of the wealthy, and in particular on income derived from capital gains, or the sale of stocks, bonds, and other assets...

...new taxes will be approved or disapproved by California voters in November, via the ballot process. But the underlying problem of a tax structure that's exposed to boom-and-bust asset markets, from which the wealthy derive most of their income, remains... There is no easy way to change this, except to build an economy in California where a stable middle class can contribute more substantially to the tax coffers and have enough earnings to spend at a level that can enable sales taxes to address imbalances. 

Until spending and outlandish union contracts are reined in, California's efforts to tax its way out of the debt crisis are guaranteed to fail. Sucking more money from the productive sector to fund an increasingly out-of-control government can't succeed and won't succeed. It will simply drive more of the productive class away.

And the dichotomy of how the Left behaves with its own money versus how it treats the taxpayers' funds is best explained by Mark Levin.

Stop-Action Photo Sequence: Elizabeth "Fauxcahontas" Warren's Driver Attacks Citizen Journalist

After pushing around the cameraman on public property and trying to destroy his camera, the midget punk says "You're messing around with the wrong people."

He got that right. These people have no business serving in public office. They're the wrong people to be entrusted with anything as complex as government. We're messing around with would-be despots, who apparently lie their way into positions of responsibility and despise a true free press.

Do the people of Massachusetts really want to be led by lying weasel-sacks surrounded by goons with Napoleon complexes? I find it hard to believe they are.

If you know folks in Massachusetts, help make this story go viral.

City Watch Los Angeles: California is on the way to becoming an enormous version of Detroit

I love California -- and the Palo Alto area in particular -- but the state is destined for a fall that will be hard, sudden, and very painful.

California has a $16 billion deficit that no one seems to notice. Brown’s budget “assumes” that California voters will pass massive tax increases on themselves. If they do not, the 2013 deficit becomes a mind-numbing $20 billion. The budget, mandated to balance by the Calfornia Constitution, has been billions in the red for 10 straight years. How could Californians re-elect the same politicians year after year that produce budgets with multi-billion dollar deficits?

To protect the endangered Delta Smelt, a fish known better as bait, water has been diverted from the Central Valley to the Pacific Ocean. Orchards in the Central Valley have been allowed to wither and die, resulting in unemployment in the Central Valley as high as 40 percent. Imagine Californians living in what was the breadbasket of American now living on food stamps. California voters rejected Republican Carly Fiorina for US Senator in 2010. She ran Hewlett Packard. Instead, they re-elected Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who vowed to protect the Delta Smelt at the expense of the Central Valley.

California has 519 state agencies, like the state Blueberry Commission, that pay each of their commissioners more than $100,000 per year. State politicians, when asked to make cuts, fire teachers and fire fighters to inflict maximum pain on its citizens, while leaving these patronage commissions intact.

State politicians have elevator operators in the state capital to push the buttons for them. Their solution for the overcrowding of the state’s prisons is to release inmates or transfer them to local facilities in already bankrupt cities. Yet, they are re-elected by California voters in numbers consistently higher than the old Soviet Politburo.

California’s public education system, once the envy of the world, now ranks 49th in the nation. Its business climate, according to 650 CEOs measured by Chief Executive Magazine, ranked dead last.

Apple will take 3,600 new jobs to Austin, Tex. at its $280,000,000 new facility. Texas ranked first in the same survey.

California unemployment is consistently higher than 10 percent of its workforce, but it’s under-employed, according to a Gallup poll, is 20 percent. There are few jobs for college students who graduate with as much as $100,000 in student loans. Despite the overwhelming evidence that bad public policy is chasing away jobs, the same state politicians are sent back to Sacramento every two years.

In the last two months, three California cities have declared bankruptcy. Compton is next. More will follow. Some cities will simply cease to exist due to $500 million in unfunded pension obligations they simply cannot meet.

The reason Democrat politicians and their supporters are completely insane is this: we can see the results of their policies in failed states like California.

Collective bargaining for public sector employees... unchecked environmental radicalism... crony capitalism... incredibly dense layers of regulation... demonization of business and industry... all the primary planks of the Democrat Party at the federal level.

The alarm claxons are going off not only in Cali, but also in Washington.

November is coming.

Genius: California Considering Giving Free, Taxpayer-Funded Life Insurance to All State Employees... and Retirees!

What could possibly go wrong with this plan?

Here's how [California's Assembly Bill 2451] would work:

Firefighter Jones or police Officer Smith retires in 2012 at age 53. Twenty-five years later, Smith or Jones die of a heart attack. Although there is a presumption in current law that heart ailments in firefighters and cops are job-related, there had been no evidence of a heart condition for either retiree before the fatal attack. Neither Jones nor Smith filed workers' compensation claims. Neither retired on disability. Their deaths occurred well beyond the 4 1/2-years-after-injury statute of limitations that governs job-related death benefit eligibility today.

Nonetheless, under this bill their survivors could claim a death benefit worth a quarter of a million dollars at minimum.

This benefit would cover not just current firefighters, police officers, prison guards and other public safety workers but retirees as well. So, on the day AB 2451 becomes law, when any ex-firefighter dies of a heart attack at age 80 or cancer at age 90, his widow or children, or other relatives -- the list of eligible survivors is extensive -- becomes eligible for a benefit typically valued at between $250,000 and $300,000...

...This benefit would cover not just current firefighters, police officers, prison guards and other public safety workers but retirees as well. So, on the day AB 2451 becomes law, when any ex-firefighter dies of a heart attack at age 80 or cancer at age 90, his widow or children, or other relatives -- the list of eligible survivors is extensive -- becomes eligible for a benefit typically valued at between $250,000 and $300,000.

It's almost as if California's Democrat leaders are all racing each other to see who can bankrupt the state first.


Hat tip: BadBlue.com/Money.

Blue State Ransacking: "The fiscal mayhem has only begun."

The perfect Democrat Utopia of California -- governed by loopy environmentalists, public sector unions and La Raza -- is melting down as we speak. One editorial board in Southern California goes so far as to call the state's economic policies "Fiscal Ransacking":

Californians fill ... special funds, which are separate from the state’s general fund, through fees dedicated to specific programs. The fee on bottled drinks, for example, goes toward the cost of recycling bottles and cans. These special funds account for a sizable share of state spending: $39.4 billion this fiscal year, compared to the $91.3 billion general fund budget.

A hidden stash of special fund money does signal a disturbing fiscal carelessness. But a report issued last week by the Department of Finance also suggests recklessness in the handling of this money. The document shows that the state’s general fund owes $4.3 billion to hundreds of special funds across state government. Four years ago, the general fund owed only $749 million to the special funds, but the borrowing snowballed as the economy melted.

So the billions in special fund borrowing the state eventually has to repay, for example, includes $40 million to the Oil Spill Response Trust Fund, $139 million to the Vehicle Inspection and Repair Fund and $350 million to the State Court Facilities Construction Fund. The state also has to repay hundreds of millions of dollars legislators have grabbed in recent years from a variety of transportation special funds...

...Since 2011, the state has borrowed $616 million from a disability insurance fund — dollars from a payroll tax on California workers — to make interest payments to the federal government. The state required a federal loan to pay unemployment benefits, because the state’s unemployment insurance fund has a $10 billion deficit. The Legislature helped create that mess in 2001 by boosting unemployment benefits without providing any way to fund the higher costs.

Borrowing to cover ongoing expenses is a pathway to insolvency, and a sign of political — if not actual — bankruptcy. Ransacking specially funded programs and hoping the economy improves is not a workable plan.

It gets worse. Much worse.

California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York are even securitizing their future tax revenue—that is, not merely borrowing with bonds that must be serviced but selling their projected tax collections to investors. So to "balance" their budgets today, they're making it far harder to correct them in the future and locking in higher tax rates. Even Greece doesn't do that.

The message of the Ravitch-Volcker report is that some large portion of the states are replicating the dysfunctions of Washington—adding to entitlements that crowd out priorities like schools and bridges, and then concealing the real danger when they're not ignoring it. State and local governments now spend $2.5 trillion, and rising. Without 49 more Scott Walkers, the fiscal mayhem has only begun.

What do California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York have in common? They've suffered for decades under craven Democrat governance.

Vote accordingly in November. It may be your last chance.


Related: Great News: ex-World Bank Official Says United States Debt Has Finally Achieved "Death Spiral" Status.

Ohio's Radical Leftist Senator Sherrod Brown Tells Ohio's Voters He Despises Them and Their Petty Concerns With Jobs and Health Care

As recently as last year, facing a difficult reelection, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown was ranked America's fifth most liberal Senator by National Journal.

Of course, Brown was probably attempting to reach out to Ohio's famously centrist voters, because in 2010, he had been rated the most liberal Senator in the country.

So in an attempt to further broaden his appeal among Ohio independents, Brown has embraced a wildly popular and successful politician:

Yes. That's Al. Freaking. Franken.

A walking, talking embarrassment.

Sherrod Brown isn't worthy of representing Ohio's voters. He's a radical Leftist and his voting record demonstrates an utter disregard for Ohioans.

What can you do? If you have a few extra bucks, I'd encourage you to support Josh Mandel for Senate (who is also endorsed by Jim DeMint's invaluable Senate Conservatives Fund).

Obama poised to achieve another historic record: highest tax rate ever!

But I'm sure leeching even more money from the private sector will supercharge job creation and help the recovery accelerate even faster!

Americans are facing an unprecedented $494 billion tax hike on Jan. 1, 2013. It’s been dubbed “Taxmageddon” given the economic devastation it would cause.

...The bulk of Taxmageddon comes from expiration of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, but also means the child tax credit will be cut in half, the Alternative Minimum Tax patches end, the Death Tax returns to its 2001 level, and a handful of new Obamacare tax hikes take effect...

...Conservatives should applaud Boehner[*] for seeking a solution sooner rather than later. But without action from the do-nothing Senate, there’s little hope of stopping this enormous and unprecedented tax increase before November...

Wait just a second. Didn't California just try this same strategy and fail miserably?

Oh well, this is the Lightbringer we're talking about, so perhaps it'll be different this time. After all, he got the oceans to stop rising.


*I'll applaud Boehner when he actually stops Obama and doesn't wimp out.

Oh, my: Since Obama took office "red states have had a job growth rate of nearly twice that of blue states"

The DNC propagandists have some 'splainin to do:

Just 16 states have seen job growth since President Obama took office, according to state employment data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The remaining states have lost a combined 1.4 million jobs since January 2009.

Even 34 months after the recession officially ended in June 2009, there are still 11 states that have fewer people working now than at the start of the recovery... Meanwhile, 20 states have unemployment rates at or above 8%, including nine with unemployment at 9% or higher, according to the BLS.

At the other end of the spectrum, Texas has been the leader in job creation under Obama, with 240,000 more people working there than when he took office. Since the recovery started in June 2009, Texas has added 474,000 jobs, which accounts for one in four of all the jobs created during the recovery.

North Dakota takes the prize for fastest job growth rate, with employment climbing 13% since Obama took office, due largely to the oil boom there.

The biggest job loser under Obama is California, which as of April was down 285,000 job vs. January 2009, BLS data show.

...Looked at through the political prism, red states — those likely to vote for Mitt Romney this November — gained jobs, on average, under Obama. Blue states, in contrast, had an average job loss rate of almost 1%.

And since the recovery started, red states have had a job growth rate of nearly twice that of blue states.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! You mean to say that class warfare, increased taxes, uncontrolled regulations and massive growth in government doesn't help job creation?

I'll make a note of that for future generations.

Einstein's Definition of Insanity: California

Gee, it's so surprising that stealing more and more money from the private sector -- to fund a bloated, unaccountable, massively top-heavy and unionized public sector -- would fail to close budget shortfalls.

Well, it's surprising if you're a Democrat, because they appear to be immune to facts, logic, reason and arithmetic.

Tax-hike austerity failing in California, just like Europe

I am having problems comprehending this Bloomberg headline: “Brown Tax Increase Gains Urgency as Deficit Rises to $16 Billion.” The story is even more puzzling:

California Governor Jerry Brown bet that a nascent financial recovery would lift the world’s ninth-largest economy enough to whittle down a $9.2 billion deficit. Instead, the gap has widened to $16 billion.

Today the 74-year-old Democrat will unveil his revised budget and explain what additional spending must be cut. Tax collections have run $3.5 billion below what he calculated four months ago. Spending has grown $2 billion above projections... The new deficit estimate increases the urgency of the governor’s plans to increase income taxes on some earners to the highest in the nation, and boost sales levies that are now more than any other state.

The plan would temporarily raise the statewide sales tax, already the highest in the U.S., to 7.5 percent from 7.25 percent. It would also boost rates on income starting at $250,000. Those making $1 million or more, now taxed at 10.3 percent, would pay 13.3 percent, the most of any state.

Wait, taxes are rising and revenues are falling. So obviously the solution is even more taxes? Who’s running the show over there, the IMF? So the state with highest sales tax in America would also have the highest income tax in America?

As it is, California ranks 48th in the Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index. The California Dream has become the Golden State Nightmare.

As I predicted in 2011, Governor Moonbeam will soon be a thrice-failed state executive.

For unless Jerry Brown discovers a flock of gold-nugget-crapping unicorns, his strategy of crushing society's most productive citizens will simply drive them out of the state.

Which is why I published the "California-to-Texas Translation Guide a while back.

L.A. residents stunned to find out that solvency and 11% wage hikes for public unions may be mutually exclusive

I just want a Democrat to point me to one state, one municipality, one anything where their infernal policies of high regulation, high taxation, oppressive government and mirage-like Utopianism actually work.

But I won't hold my breath.

Offering a dire warning about potential bankruptcy, Los Angeles City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said Friday the city will need to raise taxes, clamp down on employee pay and consider layoffs in order to keep solvent...

...The report comes two weeks before Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa - who recently also warned of possible salary freezes and layoffs - releases his budget for the coming year...

..."The rise in the city's labor costs has not been as a result of increased employment levels, but rather increases in what the city spends on health care for employees, workers' compensation, employee compensation and retirement benefits," Santana said.

There is an agreement to provide cost-of-living adjustments of 11 percent for the next two years and 11.75 percent for deputy city attorneys.

"It is not sustainable without further reductions to the workforce and essential public services," Santana said. "In addition, these increases create substantial compensation inequity within the workforce. This will result in significant pressure from other unions."

But, whatever you do, don't outlaw public sector unions, or raise the retirement age, or require reasonable contributions to pension and health benefits, or actually pay workers market wages.

Heavens, no.

These are Democrats we're talking about. And Democrats are big government. They are public sector unions. And, together, they're dedicated to extracting every last cent from you, the taxpayer.

Utterly Predictable Democrat Fail, Chapter 4,815: Cali Tax Hikes Crush Revenue to Moonbeam's Doomed Government

California and Greece have more than a few things in common, including the fact that their unofficial slogans are both "Ask Us About Our Death Spiral!"

Inquiring minds have noticed a huge plunge in California Tax Revenue for the month of February compared to February 2011...

That is a 22.55% plunge in spite of the fact that this February was a leap year adding a day to the calendar...

Via Mike Shedlock, we find a Breitbart article that provides additional insight into California's tax implosion:

Compared to last year, State tax collections for February shriveled by $1.2 billion or 22%. The deterioration is more than double the shocking $535 million reported decline for last month. The cumulative fiscal year decline is $6.1 billion or down 11% versus this period in 2011...

...businesses and successful people are leaving California for the better tax rates available in more pro-business states.

Derisively referred to as “Taxifornia” by the independent Pacific Research Institute, California wins the booby prize for the highest personal income taxes in the nation and higher sales tax rates than all but four other states. Though Californians benefit from Proposition 13 restrictions on how much their property tax can increase in one year, the state still has the worst state tax burden in the U.S.

Spectrum Locations Consultants recorded 254 California companies moved some or all of their work and jobs out of state in 2011, 26% more than in 2010 and five times as many as in 2009. According SLC President, Joe Vranich: the “top ten reasons companies are leaving California: 1) Poor rankings in surveys 2) More adversarial toward business 3) Uncontrollable public spending 4) Unfriendly business climate 5) Provable savings elsewhere 6) Most expensive business locations 7) Unfriendly legal environment for business 8) Worst regulatory burden 9) Severe tax treatment 10) Unprecedented energy costs.

Like the movie Groundhog Day, the idiotic Leftists and those who support them approach each day as if history, logic and reason didn't exist.

Raising taxes on "the rich" drive "the rich" away. Raising taxes on "the rich" promotes barter and black marketeering for the most productive members of society. Raising taxes on "the rich" suppresses tax collection, because it punishes success and rewards sloth.

Which is why the party of tyranny must be defeated at the ballot box in November -- at every level of government.


Related: 161 years ago this fall.

Shhh... no one tell the idiot legislators in California: job growth 52% higher in states with low business taxes

Governor Moonbeam hardest hit.

An executive looking for a place to locate his company might do well to consider Wyoming. That state is the most business-friendly in the country, at least when it comes to taxes, according to a new study.

The study, released by the Tax Foundation on Wednesday, found that when all the taxes businesses pay are factored in, Wyoming's rate is less than half the national average. The state is one of three — Nevada and South Dakota are the others — that doesn't have a corporate income tax.

Pennsylvania, meanwhile, wins the dubious distinction of imposing the heaviest tax burden on its businesses, with an overall effective rate that's 45% above the national average.

The study, titled "Location Matters," looked at a range of business taxes — corporate income, sales, property, unemployment, gross receipts and others. The accounting firm KPMG collaborated on the report with the Tax Foundation.

Among the most-populated states, California ranked 34th, Texas 12th, New York 42nd, Florida 19th, and Illinois came in 45th. Ohio, which came in 5th, imposes a low-rate gross receipts tax instead of a corporate income tax...

...A separate analysis by IBD found that states imposing the lowest tax rates on both new and existing businesses produced more jobs during the economic recovery than those states with the highest tax burdens.

You mean stealing more money from businesses -- to fund a bloated, unaccountable public sector -- leaves companies with less money to hire workers?

Gee, that logic is sooo difficult to comprehend. That is, if you're a Democrat or an idiot. But I repeat myself.

Can you guess what the 'worst-run states in America' award-winners have in common?

The financial website 24/7 Wall St. analyzed the worst-run states in America. Can you guess what the worst three states have in common?

48. Michigan
> State debt per capita: $2,963 (21st lowest)
> Pct. without health insurance: 12.4% (18th lowest)
> Pct. below poverty line: 15.7% (15th highest)
> Unemployment: 11.1% (3rd highest)

Michigan has arguably suffered more than any state in post-industrial America. The state is one of just four with a credit rating of AA-, although its debt per capita is actually below average. The state ranks among the worst in the country for violent crime, unemployment, foreclosures and home price decline.
Source: (September, 2011): From the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for 2010, the percentage of residents 25 or older with a high school diploma

49. Illinois
> State debt per capita: $4,424 (13th highest)
> Pct. without health insurance: 13.8% (23rd lowest)
> Pct. below poverty line: 13.1% (25th lowest)
> Unemployment: 10% (10th highest)

Illinois has fallen from 43rd last year to the overall second-worst run state in the country. The state performs poorly in most categories, but is worst when it comes to its credit rating. Illinois has a credit rating of A+, the second worst given to any state, behind only California. The state has been on credit watch since 2008 because of budget shortfalls and legal challenges against then-governor Rod Blagojevich.

50. California
> State debt per capita: $3,660 (21st highest)
> Pct. without health insurance: 18.5% (8th highest)
> Pct. below poverty line: 14.5% (tied for 21st highest)
> Unemployment: 11.9% (2nd highest)

California has moved down one slot on from last year to earn the title of the worst-run state in the country. In the fiscal year 2009, the state spent $430 billion, roughly 14% of all the money spent by states in that year. Compared to its revenue, the state spent too much — California had the 10th lowest revenue per person, and spent the 15th most per person. California is the only state in the country to be rated A-, the lowest rating ever given to a state by S&P. Despite the huge amount the state spends each year, conditions remain poor. California has the second-lowest percentage of adults with a high school diploma in the country, the second-highest foreclosure rate and is tied for the second highest unemployment rate in the U.S.

What they have in common is this:

• Decades of unchecked Democrat control at every level of government

• Massive, bloated, public sector unions that are intertwined with the Democrat Party and demand increasing percentages of the economy; they have but one aim: to enrich themselves at the expense of the taxpayer

• Sanctuary cities that attract illegals, programs that offer easy access to welfare payments and government subsistence programs, high rates of single-parent families, and therefore high levels of urban crime

You would think that someone in legacy media would actually analyze this data and report on it, but then again, I've always been a dreamer.

161 years ago this fall [Juandos]

Juandos:

DO you know what happened 161 years ago this fall... back in 1850, in California?

• California became a state.

• The people had no electricity.

• The state had no money.

• Almost everyone spoke Spanish.

• There were gunfights in the streets.

So basically nothing has changed except back then the women had real boobs and the men didn't hold hands.

And, that is the history lesson for today...

Juandos appears to have inherited the same un-P.C. gene that Papa B possesses.