In The Blogs
- ‹ previous
- 2089 of 2746
- next ›
Car Tax Update
CAR TAX UPDATE....I see that the California legislature is thinking of taking my advice and raising the vehicle license fee back to the same rate (2% of assessed value) that we had for most of our history:
The plan creates a potential political quandary for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The last governor to triple the vehicle license fee was his predecessor, Gray Davis, and it played a large role in his recall. In his first act in office, Schwarzenegger cut the fee back down to its current rate.
Yeah, that's a quandary all right. Poor Arnold.
Kevin: I totally agree, the customary rate represented $4 billion cash money that people were used to forking over. I thought the reduction was extremely wrongheaded, and Arnold's refusal to reverse it a vain bid for popular hugs at the expense of the public welfare.
I also agree re the bonds for the high speed train: we.do.not.have.the.money!
Hey Kevin,
I'm a bit surprised no one is talking about Janet Napolitano and how she's about to give Arizona Democrats the royal screw.
I've never liked Spy Cam Jan, and I have to admit, that with her love of Spy Cameras spying on citizens that she'll do wonderfully at DHS.
Regardless, she's about to turn a state whose demographics are very close to turning the state Blue to a horrible Republican.
And no discussion of that?
Anyway, I welcome Spy Cam Jan to DHS, but then, she already knows that.
Regardless, she's about to turn a state whose demographics are very close to turning the state Blue to a horrible Republican.
Should have been:
Regardless, she's a Dem governor about to turn a state whose demographics are very close to turning the state Blue over to a horrible Republican, Jan Brewer.
OK, I'm not up on Arizona politics. How does Napolitano going to Washington reverse the demographis trends there? Will more Republicans start moving into the state? Please explain.
The state has been turning more and more blue over the years. Why? Don't ask me. Perhaps all the Californians that moved here. Perhaps an increasing Hispanic move to the democratic side.
Napolitano is a Dem. The Phoenix Mayor is a Dem. The urban area is Democratic and the rest of the state is not.
But Jan Brewer is a Republican. And she'll take over and have an incumbent's advantage in the next election.
It seems a nice stab in the back to Arizona Dems that have been gaining more and more power for Napolitano to leave a Republican in charge. It will likely keep this red state from turning blue.
I am not a pundit, so I'm probably all wrong on this.
All I do know is that Spy Cam Jan will love DHS. So many shiny toys for her to turn on the citizen.
Hey, what a neat idea. Get Arnie to raise the car tax, then he gets recalled and he`s gone.
Yahoo !!!
Then maybe you can get a REAL governor for a change.
"Democracy is the art of running the circus from the monkey cage." - H.L. Mencken
Here's an article from the Phoenix Business Journal on what it might mean if Jan took over for Janet.
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/11/17/daily65.html?ana=f...
That could result in the state pulling back from Napolitano-backed efforts on climate change, emissions caps, increased health insurance and education spending. It also could push the state forward on immigration controls and penalties for businesses hiring illegal immigrants and abortion rights restrictions, according to officials familiar with Brewer and Napolitano
...
Brewer would serve the remainder of Napolitano's second term with the governor's office up for grabs again in 2010. Contenders at that point could include Brewer, U.S. Reps. Jeff Flake and John Shadegg and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas on the GOP side. U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard have expressed interest on the Democratic side.
I wonder where Janet stands on warrantless wiretapping? Oh, yeah, she'll be standing in front of the recorders listening in.
I don't understand. The reason most people (including myself) did not like Davis was that he could not keep the lights on. Granted, this was because of Wilson's deregulation of the power market. But I also have to blame TURN (supoosedly consumer oriented outfit) who backed the silly CA deregulation law. Everybody believed in the magic market, and the magic market screwed everyone.
The same thing happened here in Montana -- we went from having the lowest electric rates in the region (mostly hydro) to having the highest rates in the region. As we have now seen in the larger economy deregulation ends up in a total mess.
Montana is now trying to tame the beast, but it is hard to unwind the stupidity which brought us to this point.
"The reason most people (including myself) did not like Davis was that he could not keep the lights on."
- The "rolling blackouts" happened primarily in the spring of 2001.
- Gray Davis was re-elected in Nov 2002.
- With the budget they passed in the spring of 2003, the Cal. State Legislature raised the vehicle registration fee. Davis at first fought against the raise, but with few options for raising money to lessen a budget shortfall, he ended up OKing it (sound familiar, Arnold?).
- The signature drive to recall Davis happened also in the spring of 2003, with the recall election on Oct 7th, 2003.
I'm sure that the blackouts added to a general dissatisfaction with Davis, but he managed to b re-elected despite them. The vehicle registration fee was THE driving factor in his recall.
Davis didn't have any friends in high places to cover his ass. He was the epitome of a DLC Dino and he won the election as the penultimate lesser of 2 evils.
No body really liked him and his popularity started going down even more in the polls because he had to let the (supposedly) temporary lowering of the car tax expire. He wasn't even raising it. It was supposed to go back up if needed to fill any holes in the budget.
So a slimy winger started a recall thinking he'd get the election by default and Ahnold stepped and stole the whole thing out from under him. I doubt there will be a recall for the Governator, but when any politician campaigns on "wait until I'm elected and I tell you all my wonderful plans", that means they got nothing. And that's exactly what he's given us. I can only imagine the shock he received when he first realized that he couldn't call in a stunt double for all the hard stuff.
Just remember we wouldn't have been stuck with governor girly-man if Feinstein wasn't such a chickenshit. Now there are rumblings she wants to run in 2010
I remember that 46% of the voters voted against the recall. Davis got 47% of the vote in the 2002 election. So the behavior of the California electorate was consistent, a majority wanted to be rid of Davis in both 2002 and 2003.
Davis gamed the 2002 elections to win reelection despite his unpopularity, then got gamed himself the next year.
Another case where reality trumps ideology.
I have a better idea. Raise the rate on California income taxes for people earning over $150,000 to 75% and see where this get's us first. If that doesn't do it, charge the credit cards of all the good citizens who think it's such a great idea.
If not every penny from the vehicle tax is going to be spent on roads and highways, I'm absolutely against increasing the registration rate.