I don’t have the time today to write a full post so this one is going to be short. I just have a quick question, what the hell is California doing with all the money? California is in the midst of a budget crisis. It has gotten to the point where they are going to delay tax returns. Think about that. That is money that rightfully belongs to the people. The government should have never had it in the first place. But they are going to withhold that money from its citizens. Crazy.
But I seriously have to wonder what happens to all that tax money. I took a quick look at the California budget, and like almost all government documents it is hard to fully understand. If you look at the high level graphs you find that California spends the majority of its budget on three things, education, health care and human services, and law enforcement. California has a high incidence of tax. The income tax is high, the sales tax is high, and there is tax on alcohol, cigarettes , and corporations. Given all the people in the state, you figure the total revenue would be quite high. Yet somehow, California has poor schools, high crime, and a purported lack of hospital facilities. What the heck is going on?
Its because the state has to make up for what it doesn’t get from the fed. we lose 22% of our federal dollars to other states or other programs. So the state has to pay more to cover the difference. Also notice that salaries are higher in California so we pay more in the higher brackets because the federal govt doesn’t take higher cost of living into account on federal taxes.
But being a blue state, Californians always vote in people that want to tax us more.