If high taxes solved budget problems, California would be golden
Thursday [yesterday] marks the 85th day California has gone without a budget, shattering previous records with no deal in sight.While reports are coming out today that a compromise might be in the works for early next week, California's budget problems are projected to continue for years to come.
The estimated deficit is $19.14 billion. And closing that gap is a daunting challenge given deep divisions over cuts and taxes.
In Nevada, leftist legislators blame our budget problems on our state's supposedly too-low tax burden. But what about California? While Nevada has only a sales tax (6.85 percent), California has an income tax (top rate: 10.55 percent), a corporate income tax (8.84 percent) and a sales tax (8.25 percent).
If high taxes prevented budget problems, California would be swimming in budgetary surpluses. Instead, it is delaying payment to its vendors.
The common thread between California and Nevada is that each increased its inflation-adjusted, per-capita spending by more than 29 percent over the last 15 years.
High taxes don't solve budget problems; they simply create bigger ones in the future - as both California and Nevada can attest to.
