Indexes
December 1st, 2008
November 30th, 2008
November 29th, 2008
November 28th, 2008
November 27th, 2008
November 26th, 2008
November 25th, 2008
November 24th, 2008
The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.
- Students 'protest' the eating of turkeys on Thanksgiving (82)
- Minister takes to the streets to recruit new members (73)
- Does citing the facts on immigration mean I am a hate-monger? (65)
- Huber upsets Sieglock in 10th Assembly race (34)
- Former gang member hopes to make a difference in Lodi (34)
- Automakers need a simple car (30)
- Lodi fills position of deputy city manager (17)
- Update: Huber appears to have made comeback victory (16)
- Timing is everything (12)
- Will my house in Lodi sell before my grandkids graduate from high school? (12)
ADVERTISEMENT
California is the highest-taxed state
Our politicians are economic idiots! Don't they ever learn from history?
California is bucking to be the highest-taxed jurisdiction in the United States. To close our budget gap, our "clueless" legislators want to put a $9.7 billion tax hike on business and the rich. These idiots say they want new jobs, but they hamstring business with regulations and confiscatory taxes. Two very large California employers announced they are leaving the state — the AAA Call Center is closing its call centers, and Toyota is canceling plans to build its new Prius hybrid at its San Francisco Bay plant, moving to a more progressive and pro-business state — Mississippi.
Most people don't realize it, but Census Bureau data shows that from 1996-2005, 1.3 million more Americans left than came to California. Those leaving the state are disproportionately those with higher incomes — the ones Democrats want to tax more.
We hear "the Messiah" prattle on about tax fairness. Just look at The California Tax Board's Annual report for 2006. The top 1 percent of taxpayers paid 47.5 percent of the personal income tax; the top 5 percent paid 67.9 percent of all personal tax. The bottom 60 percent of taxpayers paid just 3 percent of total tax, while the top 20 percent paid 88.7 percent of the total personal income tax. This is fairness?
The IRS has come out with its tax data for 2006. The top 1 percent of taxpayers, those who earn above $388,806, paid 40 percent of all income taxes. The top 10 percent, those earning more than $108,904, paid 71 percent of the taxes. Obama says he is going to cut taxes for those at the bottom, but those in the bottom half only paid a record low of 2.9 percent of all income taxes, while the top 50 percent paid 97.1 percent. So we really have half the country supporting the other half.
The most industrialized states (New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, California) are the highest tax states and strangle businesses with regulations and taxes. Is it any wonder Florida, Texas, Arizona and Nevada (states with no income tax) get so many fugitives from high income tax states?
Phyllis Roche
Lodi
Search for Ads 
Today’s Print Ads 
RSS Feeds
Reader Feedback
Acampo_Mom wrote on Sep 3, 2008 11:40 PM:
My 85 year old grandmother received the rebate. She gets social security, so of course there are no "income" taxes taken out of that. But what a lot of people forget are all the sales taxes we pay on goods. I know those are state taxes...but still taxes. And don't forget all the elderly that did get the rebate, have paid THOUSANDS of dollars in taxes over their lifetimes. The $300 is only a drop in the bucket.
I was glad to get my "stimulus" check...but thought it a stupid plan. How did it stimulate the economy?
Out of curiosity, I just figured out that we pay approx (me and hubby) $605 in gasoline sales taxes annually. Tax UPON tax. lovely. "
Election Year wrote on Sep 3, 2008 10:37 PM:
Cogito wrote on Sep 3, 2008 10:26 PM:
Election Year wrote on Sep 3, 2008 10:23 PM:
dogs4you wrote on Sep 3, 2008 2:12 PM:
t jefferson wrote on Sep 3, 2008 12:04 PM:
t jefferson wrote on Sep 3, 2008 12:01 PM:
lodisafeway wrote on Sep 3, 2008 11:51 AM:
Of course I did find it amazing a number of months back when the announcement was made that only 'taxpayers' would be receiving the stimulus rebate, those who did not pay any taxes believed that they too should have received a check as well.
But guess what?!? Those who paid no taxes actually received a 'rebate.' And many of those same recipients had also received much more than had been withheld through the Earned Income Tax Credit when they first filed their tax returns! Anyone care to explain how that made any sense?
Any refund or rebate from the government should always be based upon how much each person pays in during the tax-year in question. To refund or rebate someone $200.00 when they only paid in $100.00 isn't just bad economics; it's stupidity. Name me one business that could get away with such a thing. There, they call those things 'bonuses,' and normally they're earned in some tangible way by the recipient. "
Election Year wrote on Sep 3, 2008 11:35 AM:
Stop contributing to false and alarmist information! "
Election Year wrote on Sep 3, 2008 11:18 AM:
I'm a little confused about her % statistics - they just don't seem to add up. Using her numbers, those who make less than 108,904 (90% of the taxpayers) are paying only 29% of the taxes. What "bottom half" is she refering to that paid "a record low of 2.9% of all income taxes?" Half of what? I searched the IRS website and was unable to find any 2006 statistics. Someone please give me a link!
And wtf: I tried the c-span link to the Ron Paul speech, but my computer refused to go there. Must be a conspiracy on the part of Dell (or Comcast) to keep me uninformed. "
Leonard wrote on Sep 3, 2008 11:04 AM:
" Leonard, any bill, doing anything to anybody, will have to first be approved by the Democrat led House, and Democrat led Senate before it can become law. Any tax increases will have to be endorsed by the Democrats before McCain could sign them
Your point?
This argument could be used to support any McCain proposal, no matter how outrageous.
McCain wants to introduce a plan to serve eat the children of illegal immigrants but that's OK because it would have to be ratified by Congress?
That does not seem to be a potent defense of this proposed record tax increase. "
wtf wrote on Sep 3, 2008 9:22 AM:
***Everyone*** rich and poor, should be able to keep the fruits of their labor. Before the usual suspects start in with their yada, yada, yada...he also addressed how this could be accomplished.
Watch and learn:
http://www.c-span.org/search.aspx?For=rally+for+the+republic "
Cogito wrote on Sep 3, 2008 8:44 AM:
taNDC wrote on Sep 3, 2008 8:37 AM:
Cogito wrote on Sep 3, 2008 8:26 AM:
t jefferson wrote on Sep 3, 2008 8:00 AM:
The median income was ~44K as of 2006, probably around ~50K now due to inflation. (CA was 54K as of 2006). But income was not the question, taxes were. Look at the marginal tax rate for someone make 80K per year, your average cop or firefighter. (Though they don't pay the taxes a normal person pays). The marginal tax rate at this income level is over 50% in CA. At this income level every addtional dollar earned gets taxes at the following rates. 28% FED, 9.3% state, 13.4% SS, 1.45 Medicare, Sales tax of ~8% on purchases(Valid becuse of negative savings rate) for a total tax rate of 60%. So tell me do you think you are getting value for your 60% tax rate? Over 30% of the people in this country pay no taxes and get money from the govt. The next 30% pay very minimal taxes. This country has reached the point de Tocqueville spoke about and there is no going back. "
lodisafeway wrote on Sep 3, 2008 7:54 AM:
What people 'earn' however is an altogether different matter. I have always held that rarely is anyone actually paid what they are worth. That is, there are too many who accomplish little (if anything) and draw healthy salaries while others work their tails off and take home nowhere near what they should. How to resolve this disparity is a subject for another day; here the subject of taxation is the issue.
Those who actually believe it to be 'American' to take from those who have much and hand it over to those who have little seek to do nothing more than undermine those things that have helped to make the United States so successful - self-reliance, education, perseverance and hard work. "
jeff wrote on Sep 3, 2008 7:20 AM:
Leonard wrote on Sep 3, 2008 6:12 AM:
Tax data from 2005 shows that the top 300,000 Americans collectively enjoyed almost as much income as the bottom 150 million Americans. Per person, the top group received 440 times as much as the average person in the bottom half earned, nearly doubling the gap from 1980.
The problem is not taxes but the ever increasing gulf between the working poor and the ultra rich. Tax increases on the working poor like John Mccain's plan to tax them for their employers contributions to health care, will only widen this gap. "
Comments on this story are now closed.