I Dare You Not To Raise Taxes

New/old California Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown has thrown down the gauntlet and is arm-twisting the endangered species Republicans in the state legislature into voting for his tax plan. Brown is attempting to get four Republican votes for his multi-billion dollar tax plan. California has already run businesses and individual taxpayers into greener pastures in other states, but the left's work is not yet complete.

Despite a nationwide move to the center or center/right, California bucked the tide and elected Democrats galore. Every single statewide office is now held by a Democrat, as are both Senate seats. California was so successful in divorcing itself from reality and the large majority of other states that in order to succeed in his scheme, Brown needs only four Republican votes. But lacking the courage to simply impose the taxes, this vote will be to place the proposal on the state ballot so the people themselves can be blamed (probably justifiably) for taking the final step into complete bankruptcy.

The people of the State of California were very well aware of the horrendous condition of the state's finances. But instead of throwing the bums out, they put the most irresponsible of the irresponsible into near-absolute control of the state and its budget. It's not much of a stretch to believe that they will continue the lunacy if Brown succeeds in getting the measure on the ballot. Now you understand why the Donner Party is so iconic in California. Cannibalism is the official state activity.

In all fairness, many of the taxes Brown is proposing are not actually new. They were imposed at the beginning of the national financial crisis (long after California's crisis had already begun), but Brown has no intention of giving them up. So Brown has proposed "massive cuts" to go along with the current and new taxes he proposes. Republicans have called for an austerity budget that would immediately save California $12 billion, nearly half of California's $25.4 billion deficit. In response, Brown has cut his office's budget by 25%, cutting the number of state employee cellphones by half and other cosmetic measures that will save all of about $20 million. Political insiders call that type of show cut "budget dust."

Brown's plan does not address the biggest issue of all--public employee pensions and benefits, which comprise the largest and most immediate cause of the spiraling debt. He has promised to "abolish some of the state bureaucracy" but has made no tangible moves to do so. His margin of victory in the recent election was largely attributable to the money and participation from the public employee unions. Even Brown won't bite the hand that feeds him (at least not while anybody's looking).

Despite some support from the California Business Roundtable (largely big business Republican moderates), Republicans who allows themselves to be snookered into this trap may pay the price within their own party, which is gasping for breath but not yet dead. In 2009, the state Senate and Assembly Republican minority leaders were ousted for their support of tax increases. Another Republican narrowly avoided being removed from office in a recall effort. Three out of six Republican legislators who sought higher office were defeated after their tax-raising votes.

California's arcane election laws allow His Royal Flakiness to get the proposal on the state ballot without the support of the four Republican holdouts. He has hammered the concept of "bipartisanship" deeply into the heads of the naive public, and wants to use the Republicans to prove what a generous politician he really is. Baloney. The Republicans have absolutely nothing to gain by voting to allow the measure on the ballot. It will get there anyway.

If the Republicans vote to place the matter on the ballot, and there is somehow an improvement in the economy, Brown would be able to point out his "bipartisan" effort to straighten out the state's finances. In the much more likely event that the scheme fails, he can blame the people themselves and remind them that the Republicans thought it was a good idea too. But if the Republicans vote against the proposal and for fiscal responsibility, Brown himself will have to force the measure onto the ballot and be almost solely responsible for its failure. And if the people vote in favor of it, well, a people gets the form of government it deserves.

On a personal note, I must carry some kind of curse with me. My adopted state of California is leading the rest of the nation over the cliff of bankruptcy. My birth state of Illinois didn't even bother to fake its intentions. In a midnight session, the state legislature raised personal income taxes 66% (wrap your mind around that), and corporate tax rates pretty much the same. Like California, the crippling public employee benefits and pensions were left untouched. But unlike California, zero, none, zilch was cut from public spending. My biggest hope is that the Illini who flee their state are not foolish enough to come to California.