Stop Pulling the Wagon

Listening to the radio the other day while I was working, I heard a purported spokesperson for California Government claim that the “Administration” came to the conclusion that our recent Proposition 13 (proposed property tax increase) Bill failed in our Primary Election last month because California voters figured that since the State had a balanced budget, even a budget surplus, the voters felt no further tax increase was needed to assist the States Schools.

Balanced budget? Surplus? California plays a “Shell Game” with tax revenues. Read on.

Choking back a “gag reflex” I remembered all the enraged voters of both parties who felt totally betrayed by previous Gasoline Tax Increases (California has the highest gasoline taxes in the nation) which had been presented by our State Government as a tax that was promised to be used only to repair our roads and not for any other purpose. “Pinky Swear Promise”.

” Now that Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law billions of dollars in higher fuel taxes and vehicle fees, the state will have an estimated $52 billion more money to help cover the state’s transportation needs for the next decade.” Sacramento Bee April 28, 2017

According to published reports California consumes about 43,835,616 gallons of gasoline a day and each gallon is taxed by the State of California at a rate of 46.7 cents a gallon. Using a calculator this would give California a daily gasoline tax income of $20,471,232. That’s over twenty million dollars each and every day, over six hundred million dollars a month in gas tax income. source: Sacramento Bee and multiple online federal and state agency reports.

It did not take California long to play the old “Hide the Pea in the Shell Con Game” before they “redirected” (stole) much/most of the tax increase to other “pet projects” like Climate Change research. In the meantime our roads are among the poorest in the nation with potholes shaking our cars to pieces.

To say that California has a Balanced Budget with a substantial Budget Surplus is a lie of the worst sort concocted out of “smoke and mirrors” accounting. Or if you prefer: Creative Accounting 101.

California has a 1.5 Trillion Dollar State and local debt, …..much of it in UNFUNDED (my emphasis) Pension Liability. January 2019 California Policy Center.org

Private employers are required by Federal Law – ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act) – to have fully funded (money in the bank) employee retirement programs.

The State of California, like the Social Security Administration, uses the Ponzi Scheme method of depending on future revenues – use hoped for future suckers money to pay the previous suckers “ala Bernie Madoff” plan – to cover the previously collected (and spent) “trust account” money through Shell Game tax increases and “reallocation” from other programs.

Regular readers of my columns, and those that note my brief biographical data in the right margin will remember that: I am against racism in any of its forms, oppose violence, abhor hypocrisy and especially despise being lied to.

Government please stop the “Pea Shell Shuffling” and quit lying to us.

Bob Bandy – March 2020