Cut That OTHER Spending Out of the California Budget!

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dave Johnson
Speak Out California

For decades people have been hearing that government "spends too much." They have been hearing that it's spending cuts that we need, not tax increases. They've been hearing that most of the government's money is spent on "waste, fraud and abuse." They've been hearing that it mostly goes to welfare, for people who won't work and sit around all day. They've been hearing that taxes are too high, the highest in the world, the liberals who run the world only want to tax and spend, etc. And no one has been reaching the public with the facts.

And after decades of this here is a surprise: people think the government spends too much, that we need spending cuts not taxes, that the money goes to waste, fraud and abuse -- and welfare and stuff like that. Who would have thought?

But ask for specifics like, "What specifically would you cut and by howmuch?" and you'll get a blank stare. Try that question on a conservative politician some time and you'll get the same blank stare. (Usually accompanied by an exercise commonly known as "the run-around.")

OK, occasionally when an elected official is faced with no choice but to cut or raise taxes you'll get an answer. We saw this recently when the Governor spelled out drastic cuts in schools and other government services -- the actual stuff that our taxes pay for. The public didn't like that one bit. They want that "other" spending to be cut instead. (Of course, the Governor also came up with that weird scheme to borrow from next year's lottery revenue. So what happens next year when we have to pay the bills and don't even have the lottery revenue because that went to this year's budget??? What do we borrow on then?)

Things might be changing. The public might slowly be coming around to understanding that taxes really do need to be raised -- at least as far as a temporary sales tax increase. The Public Policy Institute of California recently released the results of a survey titled Californians and Their Government. (The full PDF is here.) According to the summary:

“Solid majorities of residents (58%) and likely voters (62%) oppose the governor’s plan to raise revenue by borrowing from future lottery earnings, but majorities of residents (54%) and likely voters (57%) favor a temporary increase in the state sales tax if the lottery plan fails.”