SACRAMENTO, CA - The current regime here is pushing to raise taxes, but not so that the California government may offer new services in law enforcement, counter-terrorism, or anything else. Rather, it seems that the government bosses have run up a deficit well into the billions, and they want the taxpayers to bail them out.

Some politicians, led by Los Angeles Democrat Jackie Goldberg, are even leading tax-raising rallies. Others, joined by government unions, claim that the public is veritably panting to have its taxes raised. Still another has devised a way to test this claim that is both fair and democratic.

State Senator Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), the Republican nominee for state controller, has joined six other senators and nine Assembly members in introducing a bill that would allow citizens to check a new box on their tax return. The box would read: “If you do not believe that the state of California has collected enough taxes from you, this line enables you to tax yourself any additional amount to fund state government.”

With Democrats holding sway in the governor’s office, Senate, and Assembly, the fate of this measure is uncertain. It is more certain that few, if any, of those clamoring for a tax increase would check the box and reach for their checkbook. In this camp, voluntarism takes a back seat to coercion, accompanied by familiar rhetoric. Those less than worshipful of higher taxes, as it goes, are supposedly selfish types guilty of greed. Those who favor high taxes, in this view, are selfless advocates of compassion. As it happens, this is backwards. The point has been made here before, but it bears repeating.

The desire of any worker to keep what she has already earned through her labor is not greed. However, the desire to grab more of other people’s money does indeed qualify as greed - government greed. That is particularly true when those trying to get the money need it not to offer taxpayers anything new, or to improve existing services, but simply to fix their own mistakes. And the “greed” dodge is not the worst of it. The tax regime wants everyone to believe that this is all the people’s idea.

San Francisco Democrat Carol Migden, for example, is on record for stating that some people would “be happy to throw back a few bucks to help working families.” She made these remarks in support of reimposing the state’s car tax, a move that would not “help working families” but instead would punish them. If one wanted to help working families it would be better to eliminate the high state sales tax of nearly eight percent on the purchase of an automobile, which adds thousands to the cost.

Instead of raising taxes, state government should cut taxes. This will spur economic growth. The government also needs to cut more waste. As PRI will soon show in a new study, the waste in the state’s public education system alone runs into the tens of billions. Meanwhile, those who claim that Californians want their taxes raised should be willing to test that claim.

K. Lloyd Billingsley is editorial director of the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco. He can be
reached via email at klbillingsley@pacificresearch.org.