Sunday, September 20, 2009

Calif. panel set to recommend major tax overhaul

Calif. panel set to recommend major tax overhaul

As Mr. Silton has been pointing out in class, California has a very fluctuating economy. In her article Judy Lin argues that the fluctuating economy has to do with "The top 1 percent of income earners. . . pay[ing] roughly half the state's personal income taxes".

She states that because such a significant part of the budget is from very wealthy citizens that when the stock market fluctuates and that top 1 percent (who generally have a significant amount of their money in the market) lose money, the entire state suffers.

A commission put together by the governator and the state assembly are drafting a plausible new tax structure. This new tax structure would cut the taxes on the wealthy and enact a tax on all businesses in California.

Many are complaining that this tax structure would be outrageous. Jean Ross, "executive director of the California Budget Project, a Sacramento-based nonprofit that advocates for lower- and middle-income families" (Judy Lin) states that "This is taxing groceries to finance tax cuts for millionaires and taxing child care so oil companies don't have to pay a corporate income tax".

The idea of lowering taxes on the wealthy is never a popular idea during a budget deficit. However, I see what the committee is trying to do. If the budget is less based on the wealthy and more on the economy itself then the budget will fluctuate less. If the budget can remain reasonable through the business tax and not fluctuate than the state government can finally stop making cuts and have a stable economy.

7 comments:

The new Kevin (a.k.a Kevin Kwan) said...

"A commission put together by the governator and the state assembly are drafting a plausible new tax structure. This new tax structure would cut the taxes on the wealthy and enact a tax on all businesses in California."

Umm, logical flaw?

Cutting taxes for the wealthy will cut our dependence on their income, but it will also mean less money - bad idea.

Why can't we keep the wealth tax and also enact a tax on all other businesses?


A "junk food" tax would also help.

Companies like Coke are all over the world; I'm sure they can pay more taxes to operate in California.

Anders said...

You see that 1% of people are paying 50% of the taxes, you see people are trying to fix that, and you disagree. Yikes your beyond salvaging. Sorry Kevin.

The new Kevin (a.k.a Kevin Kwan) said...

"You see that 1% of people are paying 50% of the taxes..."

Perhaps, they are paying so much taxes because there was no tax previously on all other businesses.

Otherwise, the new tax structure would not be proposed.

More specifically, this provision:

"This new tax structure would...enact a tax on all businesses in California."





We can cut taxes on the wealthy, but not too much.

The new Kevin (a.k.a Kevin Kwan) said...

Oh, and Anders, would you say this counts as a poll?

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/health/27wash.html

Anders said...

Yeah but how in the world am I supposed to get more data on handwashing? Who is against handwashing rofl?

The new Kevin (a.k.a Kevin Kwan) said...

Get data on how many people don't wash their hands after using the bathroom. It's a gross and somewhat surprising issue, so I'm sure there's more than one poll on it. Apparently, people don't always do it.

To everyone else:

Try to use something other than washing hands because we're already using it.

The new Kevin (a.k.a Kevin Kwan) said...

Send me the other link preferably by today.

I hate procrastinating.