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Home  At Length The Kiss of Death
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The Kiss of Death |
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Friday, 22 May 2009 |
Having California Governor Schwarzenegger stumping for the recent “save the budget” propositions obviously raised a lot of red flags to voters who rightly remembered that it was his original campaign promise to “fix” the state’s deficit spending when he first overthrew Gray Davis and got himself elected in 2003. Since that time the Schwarz has been posturing and bullying his way around the Capital in a manner that is even less productive than Governor Reagan, who was the neo-conservative architect for de-funding our tax base, raising college tuition, building our most expensive prison system and closing the state’s mental hospitals. That is old history at this point, but it is the genesis of our current deficit dilemma. Do we cut the state’s spending and sacrifice education, health care and other essential services or do we raise taxes on citizens who are already hard pressed to pay their mortgages?
The intransigence between the two political parties on the issue of raising taxes has resulted in a historic stalemate that has resulted in a revolving door of crisis that has made voters weary and resentful. The current special election ploy to force a compromise has backfired precisely because of Schwarzenegger’s waning popularity—his support for props 1-A through 1-E was ultimately the kiss of death. The two to one loss of the propositions (except for 1-F which limits pay raises during recessions for politicians) shows the revulsion of the electorate of California for their inability to fix the budget—since we were robbed by the free-market energy corporations in the 2003 energy crisis. We were never fully paid back by the Enron’s of America for their gaming of the energy market and now, after these few short years, we see the end results.
Both the Democrats and the Republicans can’t seem to get their minds around the solutions of paying for a state that dwarfs the economies of all but six countries in the world and that is the most populous state in the union. The Central Valley conservatives are still pretending that the state can be run the same way it was before Pat Brown laid the foundations for modern California, with roughly the same budget, and the Dems, the progressive ones at least, want to make this one of the leading social democracies. Certainly there is a fundamental disconnect between these two visions. A new path is necessary. Let me suggest…
Last issue in this column, persistent readers will recall I pointed out the report on offshore tax havens that indicated that if the Federal government enforced the tax code on our most prominent corporations, there would be a $100 billion per year influx of new revenues to the government, $11billion directed to California. Second, is the front-page story in this issue on decriminalizing marijuana—the argument here is that this is the alternative path. By regulating, taxing, and eliminating this from the criminal code, we not only will we be able to raise taxes on a substance that no one will complain about and control its distribution the same way we regulate alcohol, we would be eliminating costly enforcement and incarceration. The savings would be huge. The side benefit is that this will put the pinch on the Mexican drug cartels profits and impact the black market’s un-taxable trade administered by street gangs north of the border.
This two-tier approach to solving California’s endemic tax and spend problems provides an end run around the objections of conservative Republicans—many of which were incensed by the bank bailouts or who represent agricultural regions of the state. Many of the corporations with offshore tax havens are our biggest banks and hedge funds and the wealthy growers of the Central Valley will hardly object to legalizing what some argue is already our number one cash crop—pot! Even Schwarzenegger, who is reported to have smoked some bud during his Hollywood career, would be of a mind to sign such a bill if it passed the legislature.
Both of the measures listed here would have a wide ranging impact on lowering taxes on small businesses and getting us out of the impasse caused by Prop. 13 tax limits while giving the legislature an avenue to pay for health care with a tax that has a nexus to the item taxed. Ultimately, both of these solutions will need the help of the Obama administration and Congress. The President has already pressed on the tax haven issue, but demurred on legalizing marijuana. But what must be remembered in this time of recession is that it was under similar circumstances during the Great Depression that prohibition of alcohol was repealed, precisely so that it could be taxed and regulated.
Our Man Nuch
On Tuesday May 19, the voters, those who showed up (just 14.8 percent), elected Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich to City Attorney for the City of Los Angeles. Some consider this victory to be one of the historic upsets. This is both a sweet and sour victory for many local residents of the harbor area, as Trutanich has been the legal council for many around here, including myself. Now we all need to find ourselves a new lawyer!
However, to have such a competent legal and local representative in the City Attorney’s office will once again give importance not only to our district but also to our legal issues inside city Hall and perhaps with the Port of LA. Congratulations are in order and as of this morning the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce has added him to the list of elected officials who will be honored at their June 17 installation luncheon featuring Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at the Double Tree Hotel. Hats off for defeating Jack Weiss!
Perhaps this election will be the kiss of death for both Weiss and the Schwarz in politics. One can only hope.
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