They'll only "negotiate" if they can raise taxes

Still no budget here in California and, to make matters worse, the Republicans have proposed a great budget, just like the governator had requested, and neither the Democrats nor the Governor are willing to accept it.

The way I see it, they don’t want to accept it because it would mean not taking more of our money through taxes or “fees”. They will be able to get $6.5 billion dollars just by redirecting funds that are currently not being used:

• 2.1 billion would come from Prop 10 monies which are currently not being used. This money is directed for early childcare centers; I work in a funded center and I can tell you, we don’t need that money. Sure, some of it comes in handy; however there are times when we are buying junk that we don’t need because it’s there. Knowing that there is that much left over…that’s a lot of wasted money!

• 3.9 billion would come from Prop 63 monies which are not being used. This money is directed for mental health issues. Now, I haven’t talked to anyone personally in this field, but from the reports I’ve read and heard, this money would be missed about as much as the Prop 10 money would be missed in the early childhood care centers.
  
• 484 million would come from some fund transfers.
  
  

That’s it. There is no more money coming out of the tax payer’s pockets or hands. The Republicans are seeing exactly what the public is seeing: there already is more than enough money available to them and not enough for us.

So, how does that compare to what the Democrats and Governor want to do? Every one of their plans involves raising taxes in many forms:

• (Democrats) 5.7 billion to increase the vehicle license “fee” (read tax) to 2% of the vehicle’s value. (Schwarzenegger) has a similar idea, but it would just be a flat $12 per vehicle to give a 451 million increase to revenue
  
  
• (Democrats) 2.4 billion to increase the income tax and freezing the tax brackets rather than letting them adjust with inflation. Now, Schwarzenegger doesn’t want to increase the INCOME tax…no he has other plans (read on)
  
  
• (Schwarzenegger) 9.1 billion sales tax increase by 1.5 cents for 3 years (cause of course they’ll drop it back down after 3 years and forget the fact that we have one of the highest sales tax in the country)
  
  
• (Schwarzenegger) 1.4 billion sales tax on services not currently taxed (things like taking your pet to the vet, amusement parks, sporting events, and of course let’s hit those cars up again with a tax on vehicle repairs)
  
  
• (Schwarzenegger) 1.2 billion for a 9.9% tax per barrel on oil extracted from California
  
  
• (Schwarzenegger) and last but not least 829 million by raising excise tax on alcohol to 5 cents a drink
  
  

Of course, according to the Democrats they are willing to “negotiate”; to them this means that they will be willing to make SOME cuts if the Republicans would just agree to increasing taxes.

Let’s see, the Republicans are willing to cut 15.6 billion dollars from the budget, the Governator 9.3 billion, and a whopping 4.5 billion for the Democrats. Who really is serious about get our budget back in order?

Everyone is willing to cut spending on the schools: 10.6 billion from the Republicans, 4.5 billion for Democrats, and 3.2 billion for Schwarzenegger. From what I see, way more than all that combined gets WASTED in the schools every year.

At least Schwarzenegger and the Republicans are close to what should be cut in SSI/SSP. When looking at the Democrats, it seems they aren’t willing to cut more than 750 million for ANY program other than the schools.

The Republicans specifically say they want to cut 738 million from UC and CSU by increasing the student fee and eliminating in-state tuition for UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS! I seriously want to know HOW they can get in-state tuition if they aren’t legal residents here. Someone want to explain that to me anyway?

There is also an agreement from the Republicans and Schwarzenegger in cutting spending on transit grants. I am all for this considering how little the transit is used in this state anyway. Oh, the Democrats are willing to cut, but only 156 million.

My favorite, the Republicans actually have proposed a 5% pay cut to the legislation! They see that if they are cutting from everywhere else, they need to cut themselves as well. I admire that!

A message to the California Republicans: Keep up the amazing work, stay strong, we are all rooting for you!