Why do tax rates always go up? When the economy is cruising along at 100 miles per hour and taxes are flooding the city, county and state treasury, why aren’t tax rates lowered? When homes are selling like hot cakes and the property tax revenue increases 500% on the same house, why aren’t property tax rates lowered?
When revenue from taxes such as the Transient Occupancy Tax that visitors pay cities for the pleasure of renting a hotel room increases 41% in three years, why aren’t the hotel tax rates lowered?
I ask because whenever the economy slows, we have all this pressure to raise the tax rates. So why is that?
It is actually very simple.
Government has learned to spend more revenue in the good times and cry poor in the bad times. During the bad times, you raise tax rates to balance your budget; during the good times, you raise your budgets to spend all that newfound money you have from the previously raised tax rates. Then the cycle repeats itself during the bad times when government again raises rates to pay for increased spending it committed to in the good times.
Here is a fact the tax raisers always want to blur: The amount of actual taxes brought in year after year is always higher than the previous year. The problem is the spending in some years goes even higher.
Government does not have a revenue problem — it has a spending problem.
The distinction, which is purposely blurred by those who want to raise tax rates, is the difference between raising taxes or raising tax rates. For example, let’s look at the Transient Occupancy Tax in Costa Mesa. When it is said that the Transient Occupancy Tax has not been raised in 27 years, those who want to raise taxes are somehow trying to tell the public that the amount of taxes paid has not increased, when in fact it has.
The Transient Occupancy Tax collected by the city of Costa Mesa increased 9.94% from the fiscal year ending in 2004 to fiscal year 2005. It increased again by a whopping 17.75% from fiscal year 2005 to fiscal year 2006, and again increased 9.26% from fiscal year 2006 to fiscal year 2007.
All in all, the Transient Occupancy Tax collected in Costa Mesa went up 41% in three years. This happened without raising the tax rate one iota. Not bad, a tax that was not raised in 27 years increased by 41% in three years.
When a city or state does a budget, it is in for a world of hurt if that budget spends all the excess revenues in good times and expects those good times to continue. They never do. Costa Mesa is projected to spend 6.47% more for fiscal year 2009 than fiscal year 2008. The problem is the projected revenue in out years may not keep pace.
The burning question in Costa Mesa is how we survive when the amount we want to spend is more than we have coming in.
It is easy — spend less.
This may sound ridiculously simple, but that is because it is. Let’s just look at the Finance Department’s report dated July 8, 2008.
The second reason stated that expenses are higher than they could be is due to the many facilities added over the last several years, such as TeWinkle Athletic Field, Volcom Skate Park, expansion of Brentwood Park, renovation of the police facility and development of sports fields at Fairview Development center. Adding new facilities in good years is prudent. Continuing to add them in a slowing economy is not.
Here’s a thought: When the economy slows down, do not add new facilities. The citizens will understand.
The City of Costa Mesa General fund budget has grown 37% in five years; not too bad. Compared to other cities in Orange County, we are in great shape. We get almost half of our general fund budget from sales taxes where other cities get about one-third. Thank you, Henry Segerstrom and family.
There are other ways to increase income in our city, and that is to increase the tax base.
When the economy slows, we must take that time to plan for areas like the Westside, which can be a major improvement for the city and help bring in more future tax revenue without raising the rates.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Nanny State Says ‘No Cellphones’
I have to admit, when California started giving out tickets for not wearing a seat belt, my knee-jerk reaction was to oppose it.
My attitude was to ask what right does the state have to force people to wear a seat belt? Common sense should be enough.
This was one more reason why California has been known as the mother of all nanny states. Our legislators love telling us what they think is good for us. If we disagree, they use the power and force of the state to get compliance.
It’s kind of like a nanny making you finish your Brussels sprouts.
Only now if you continue to disobey, instead of not getting dessert, your driver’s license can be revoked.
However, after some consideration I began to understand the arguments about how it saves lives and severely reduces injury in an accident. The numbers made sense.
I realized that a lot of the same people who chose not to wear a seat belt also did not have enough insurance to pay for their medical care when they got in a wreck. Their medical care was going to be paid by someone, and someone usually means the taxpayer. My logic was that if wearing seat belts cuts down on serious injuries, then we all save money on medical care if people wear them.
I still may not like it, but at least we have some data, and it saves lives and money.
But then the nanny state struck again with the California Wireless Telephone Automobile Safety Act of 2006.
As we all know, this gem became effective Tuesday. Putting a cellphone to your ear while driving a car is now a crime.
Now let me come clean: I spend about 3,600 minutes of my life on a cellphone each month. That’s correct: I spend 60 hours a month, 15 hours a week or 2.14 hours a day on a cellphone. I also drive a car during a large portion of that time.
To say this law affects me would be an understatement. Before you start telling me all I need is a wireless earpiece, you should know that I have spent hundreds of dollars trying to find one that works. I have a drawer full of them.
The batteries run down, they are not comfortable to wear, and they sound like you are in a cave to whomever you are talking to.
I have had to end calls because I cannot understand what someone is saying to me and vice versa.
The fact of the matter is there is zero evidence that talking on a cellphone while driving is a safety issue.
In fact, the author of this bill, Santa Cruz Sen. Joe Simitian, who has been introducing an almost identical bill since 2002, has no data that this will save any lives or prevent accidents.
The CHP, which was required to do a study, concluded that they may cause some distraction, but they had no statistics to show it caused accidents.
In fact, a 2003 study by the AAA’s Foundation for Traffic Safety found that ‘reaching’ and ‘leaning’ were the most prevalent distractions when driving. Using a cellphone was eighth on the list.
I have no problem driving a car safely and talking on the phone at the same time, and I think most Californians can do the same.
Just because someone can’t chew gum and drive a car at the same time is no reason the rest of us should have to stick metal earpieces with blinking lights in our ears.
So here is what I propose: Simitian cites a recent study by Jed Kolko of the Public Policy Institute of California, which says the new law will lower yearly traffic deaths in California by 300, or about 7%.
If traffic deaths are down by July 1 of 2009 by any significant amount, then the law should stay in place.
If not, the law gets repealed. However, my guess is that if traffic deaths do decrease, Simitian will push what he has always wanted: to outlaw cellphones in cars entirely. You heard it here first.
My attitude was to ask what right does the state have to force people to wear a seat belt? Common sense should be enough.
This was one more reason why California has been known as the mother of all nanny states. Our legislators love telling us what they think is good for us. If we disagree, they use the power and force of the state to get compliance.
It’s kind of like a nanny making you finish your Brussels sprouts.
Only now if you continue to disobey, instead of not getting dessert, your driver’s license can be revoked.
However, after some consideration I began to understand the arguments about how it saves lives and severely reduces injury in an accident. The numbers made sense.
I realized that a lot of the same people who chose not to wear a seat belt also did not have enough insurance to pay for their medical care when they got in a wreck. Their medical care was going to be paid by someone, and someone usually means the taxpayer. My logic was that if wearing seat belts cuts down on serious injuries, then we all save money on medical care if people wear them.
I still may not like it, but at least we have some data, and it saves lives and money.
But then the nanny state struck again with the California Wireless Telephone Automobile Safety Act of 2006.
As we all know, this gem became effective Tuesday. Putting a cellphone to your ear while driving a car is now a crime.
Now let me come clean: I spend about 3,600 minutes of my life on a cellphone each month. That’s correct: I spend 60 hours a month, 15 hours a week or 2.14 hours a day on a cellphone. I also drive a car during a large portion of that time.
To say this law affects me would be an understatement. Before you start telling me all I need is a wireless earpiece, you should know that I have spent hundreds of dollars trying to find one that works. I have a drawer full of them.
The batteries run down, they are not comfortable to wear, and they sound like you are in a cave to whomever you are talking to.
I have had to end calls because I cannot understand what someone is saying to me and vice versa.
The fact of the matter is there is zero evidence that talking on a cellphone while driving is a safety issue.
In fact, the author of this bill, Santa Cruz Sen. Joe Simitian, who has been introducing an almost identical bill since 2002, has no data that this will save any lives or prevent accidents.
The CHP, which was required to do a study, concluded that they may cause some distraction, but they had no statistics to show it caused accidents.
In fact, a 2003 study by the AAA’s Foundation for Traffic Safety found that ‘reaching’ and ‘leaning’ were the most prevalent distractions when driving. Using a cellphone was eighth on the list.
I have no problem driving a car safely and talking on the phone at the same time, and I think most Californians can do the same.
Just because someone can’t chew gum and drive a car at the same time is no reason the rest of us should have to stick metal earpieces with blinking lights in our ears.
So here is what I propose: Simitian cites a recent study by Jed Kolko of the Public Policy Institute of California, which says the new law will lower yearly traffic deaths in California by 300, or about 7%.
If traffic deaths are down by July 1 of 2009 by any significant amount, then the law should stay in place.
If not, the law gets repealed. However, my guess is that if traffic deaths do decrease, Simitian will push what he has always wanted: to outlaw cellphones in cars entirely. You heard it here first.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Freedom to Gather
Normally I write about the problem issues of the day; high gas prices, political shenanigans and governmental snafus. During this political season you hear a lot about what is wrong with America. But on the birthday weekend of this great nation, I want to write about what is great about America.
Two hundred and thirty-two years ago in a hot and humid hall, 56 men of great stature pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to declare our independence from England.
What they gave us was liberty. The God-given right to be free and to make decisions that guide our lives. Freedom comes with rights and responsibilities. In this country you even have the freedom to make bad decisions. The greatness of this country is derived from the fact that our people have the freedom to improve their lot in life through hard work and discipline. In fact, despite what the politicians want you to believe, with less than 5% of the Earth’s population, we have the largest middle class in the world. Our standard of living, recession or no recession, is second to none and in fact on a world scale we have the wealthiest poor people on the planet. We have safety nets in place so that no one in this country has to go hungry for need of food.
America is not great because of latitude and longitude. It is great because we have the liberty to do as we please as long as we respect the rights of others to do the same.
The right to succeed or fail is completely American. Americans love a comeback story.
This last week I was reminded of what a great country this is. My wife and I packed up the kids and flew back to the Midwest where I grew up to have a family vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Righeimer, my four siblings, their spouses and all of their children at my parent’s lake house in Whitewater, Wis. All told, we had 30 people at the house. The ages ranged from 77 for my dad to our youngest, Katherine, who is 2. Whitewater is a typical summer home community that you find on the lakes in southern Wisconsin. Where Southern Californians go to the beach or mountains to get out of the summer heat, Chicagoans head to Wisconsin with their boats and wave runners to cool down and enjoy the summer with family and friends. To get to Whitewater you drive straight north from O’Hare Airport for about two hours. When you get off the interstate in Wisconsin, you set back your watch about 50 years. There is something about getting all of your family together for a long weekend at the lake that feels like 1958. The older cousins are planning weddings; some are finishing high school or college. The younger ones are learning to swim or trying their first time on water skis.
This whole family started 54 years ago when James Joseph Righeimer met my mother Therese Katherine Redican at a friend’s wedding. He was a young high school teacher and football coach, and she worked at an insurance company in downtown Chicago. His father drove a beer truck and her mother came to America as a domestic. Through hard work and second jobs, my mother and father raised all five of us. My father was the original recycler. He had us bring home our lunch bags to be used again. They scrimped and saved and though some took longer than others, we all got college degrees and raised families of our own.
In no other country in the world could this happen. Only in America could a son of a truck driver achieve the American Dream.
On this Fourth of July weekend while we are having fun with family and friends, thousands of America’s finest sons and daughters are in far-off lands protecting us from people in the world who do not like our way of life and have sworn to destroy it. Like some of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, some of them will give the ultimate sacrifice to protect the liberty we sometimes take for granted. Just remember while you are popping that cold one, the temperature in Baghdad will be 112 degrees. Please keep them in your prayers.
Two hundred and thirty-two years ago in a hot and humid hall, 56 men of great stature pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to declare our independence from England.
What they gave us was liberty. The God-given right to be free and to make decisions that guide our lives. Freedom comes with rights and responsibilities. In this country you even have the freedom to make bad decisions. The greatness of this country is derived from the fact that our people have the freedom to improve their lot in life through hard work and discipline. In fact, despite what the politicians want you to believe, with less than 5% of the Earth’s population, we have the largest middle class in the world. Our standard of living, recession or no recession, is second to none and in fact on a world scale we have the wealthiest poor people on the planet. We have safety nets in place so that no one in this country has to go hungry for need of food.
America is not great because of latitude and longitude. It is great because we have the liberty to do as we please as long as we respect the rights of others to do the same.
The right to succeed or fail is completely American. Americans love a comeback story.
This last week I was reminded of what a great country this is. My wife and I packed up the kids and flew back to the Midwest where I grew up to have a family vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Righeimer, my four siblings, their spouses and all of their children at my parent’s lake house in Whitewater, Wis. All told, we had 30 people at the house. The ages ranged from 77 for my dad to our youngest, Katherine, who is 2. Whitewater is a typical summer home community that you find on the lakes in southern Wisconsin. Where Southern Californians go to the beach or mountains to get out of the summer heat, Chicagoans head to Wisconsin with their boats and wave runners to cool down and enjoy the summer with family and friends. To get to Whitewater you drive straight north from O’Hare Airport for about two hours. When you get off the interstate in Wisconsin, you set back your watch about 50 years. There is something about getting all of your family together for a long weekend at the lake that feels like 1958. The older cousins are planning weddings; some are finishing high school or college. The younger ones are learning to swim or trying their first time on water skis.
This whole family started 54 years ago when James Joseph Righeimer met my mother Therese Katherine Redican at a friend’s wedding. He was a young high school teacher and football coach, and she worked at an insurance company in downtown Chicago. His father drove a beer truck and her mother came to America as a domestic. Through hard work and second jobs, my mother and father raised all five of us. My father was the original recycler. He had us bring home our lunch bags to be used again. They scrimped and saved and though some took longer than others, we all got college degrees and raised families of our own.
In no other country in the world could this happen. Only in America could a son of a truck driver achieve the American Dream.
On this Fourth of July weekend while we are having fun with family and friends, thousands of America’s finest sons and daughters are in far-off lands protecting us from people in the world who do not like our way of life and have sworn to destroy it. Like some of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, some of them will give the ultimate sacrifice to protect the liberty we sometimes take for granted. Just remember while you are popping that cold one, the temperature in Baghdad will be 112 degrees. Please keep them in your prayers.
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