So,
Mr. Governor, do you really want to raise my taxes?
Really,
Arnold? You see no way around raising my taxes? We just recalled someone who
“saw no way around it.” Let me help you see just a few ways around it and
then maybe you can get your CFO to find more until we balance this budget without
raising
my taxes.
GUEST COMMENT
I
am a single mother of two boys already paying income taxes and property taxes
and even special California taxes placed on items I buy - like gas and even my
organic shampoo - that makes the cost of living in San Diego too high to
survive! My boys were born here, I was born here, my whole family are
California natives! My father served and retired from the Navy. We are not rich
people, but we have been carrying this state for decades! And now you see no
way out but to raise our taxes even more?
How
about cutting the $45 million to $65 million a year we pay for illegal
immigrants to go to California universities and colleges? Senator McClintock
recently proposed legislation, SB1503 the Legislature voted down, that would
have repealed the 2001 law that gave college tuition to illegal immigrants.
That 2001 law in turn denied the place at the colleges and the funding
available for approximately 7,500 legal immigrants and residents of
California. Why am I paying taxes to send people to college that are breaking
our laws? I would rather send to college a young kid who actually went through
the proper channels and became a citizen and reward him/her for that initiative
and drive. They would also have a better chance of graduating, I would think.
If a person doesn’t have the initiative to do what it takes to become a
citizen, how are they going to handle the rigors of college? I might prefer to
have programs like this to give it a try and see, but I just can’t afford
that right now.
How
about cutting $37.5 million a year taxpayers funding for abortions? Its one
thing to have freedom to choose - it’s another to make others pay for
that choice. If someone wants to choose to have an abortion, let the father of
the baby kick in for the fees. I didn’t have sex with that girl! Are you
telling me $37.5 million dollars worth of abortions are cases of hard luck
stories, incest or rape? I don’t think so. California pays for abortion
all nine months, any reason, multiple abortions to one woman, teenagers without
notifying parents, and then sends them out the door with taxpayer funded
contraception that fails without ever being taught self esteem program or
abstinence education. It’s an endless merry-go-round I just can’t
afford right now.
How about accepting $7 million to $18 million every year in the Title V Abstinence Education Block Grants from the federal government to the state? That’s right, my federal tax dollars are not allowed to come back into the State budget because California is the only state in the nation that has refused the money since 1996 based on “philosophical differences.” Are ya kiddin me? Are you telling me that California is so cash tight that we can afford to turn down $18 million dollars a year, with an additional 75% matching dollars being brought in by the non-profit organizations that provide character based abstinence education? It’s not like the current programs are working - I’m paying $37.5 million a year on abortions! And another $20 million a year in a community challenge grant program that hands out condoms and promotes the “Safe Sex” merry-go-round.
How
about cutting Legislators salaries and benefits for a while until they can get
the budget under control? The rest of us have taken cuts in pay or benefits.
The grocery stores just finished a strike over medical benefits being paid
100%. Texas has a part-time legislature. That gives them time to have real jobs
and work in the real world so they see the effects all these laws and taxes
have on their businesses. Cut back on our legislature - that would save us
millions. I simply can’t afford to carry these men/women any more.
Clearly they have too much time on their hands to spend my money - foolishly.
I’m
sorry, Mr. Governor, I see lots of ways to cut back without dipping into my
over extended budget. As a single mother of two, no help from their father and
a California government “dead-beat-dad program” that is a complete
failure, my own budget is in a deficit and I am having to cut back programs
that I would prefer to keep, but are just not possible right
now - they include Flaming Hot Cheetos and Friday night pizza and a movie
night. Don’t you dare raise my taxes until you cut programs you would
prefer to keep, but just can’t afford right now.
Dana
Serrano lives in Escondido. She can be contacted at Dana@WRNetwork.org.