Jun 02 2009
Revisions and more revisions
Assemblymember Evans, who is the chair of the Assembly Budget Committe asked the Department of Finance if they were done with revisions to the budget.
The Governor has made three revisions since the budge was released on January 10th. His office says that there will be as many revisions as needed to reflect the downward spiral of the economy. This is a different stance from last budget season where he only made one revision, even as the economy continued to spiral downward.
What do all these revisions mean? More cuts.
There is simply no other way to go about solving the budget at this point. There is some discussion about raising taxes on cigarettes (everyone’s favorite taxable item), but as cigarette sales decline, and they have been declining, that tax revenue goes away as well. That is simply one of the tricks that is sometimes used to balance the budget.
Other tricks involve carrying debt over to the next fiscal year, taking money from the local areas, and taking money from special funds.
What is the Governor to do? Let the Legislature come up with its own plan? Their plan hasn’t been successful in years. Every year the pass their plan , the budget bill, and the Governor signs it. Then every year it is out of balance. The Legislature also passes other bills throughout the year that require funding. All of this simply put the state into a spending spree and doesn’t do anything to balance the budget.
So the resort now has to be cuts. Californian’s are not going to tolerate more tax increases. We already pay high taxes and get nothing in return.
For people who complain that the cuts hurt the poor, diabled, elderly and children - well that is who the government serves. So cuts to government services are going to hurt those populations. It is time to step up to the plate and reduce spending levels in California.
