I got my California Vehicle License Fee refund check today. Basically, in order to make up for the monies lost during the California Energy Crisis, the previous governor Gray Davis decided to triple the Vehicle License Fee. Before the tripling of the tax, all the monies generated by the California VLF went to the cities and counties. The VLF is approximately 0.65 percent of a car's value, meaning if you have a new car, you probably pay much more than an older car. Gray Davis raised it to 2 percent, more than triple that value. The reason I felt this was wrong is because you were essentially taxing those with the newest cars -- and newer cars tend to be cleaner on the environment. Having this go into effect basically rewarded people who drive older, polluting fuel inefficient cars so I'm really thankful for the rescinding of this fee. It's not the money it's the principle.
unfortunately, without what would've been the rather painfully-extracted revenues, california is cutting all its "extra" programs, namely social programs that help low-income people. it wasn't a wise hike in the tax, but what do you suggest for generating the revenues california needs? (honest question btw, since i'm at a loss for constructive suggestions.)
I'm coming up with these solutions just from the top of my head. I have no idea what is involved in actually making these things happen -- if they need to get voted on or whatever, but here's a quick couple of solutions:
1) Raise Taxes (Income, State, Luxury, Corporation - straight percentage -- if you make more, you should be feeling a 20% chunk from taxes too)
2) Raise fines on traffic violations. I recently read how in Europe they ticket according to income. Meaning if you have a lot of money, and you get nailed for a routine traffic violation, you pay exorbitant fines.
3) Review the state expenses. Any cost in perks to officials should be cut. During the years that Gray Davis was governor, he was chauffered since he didn't know how to drive.
4) State Vehicles should not be used for private use. I've seen too many "state/city vehicles" parked in people's garages and driveways.
5) Sell/Recycle old state-owned surplus equipment. All too often the stuff the state holds onto for far too long until the effective value is past zero -- meaning it costs more to store than it is worth.
6) Raise Gasoline Tax. Yes, this aimed at those driving gas guzzlers or have 50 gallon tanks...
7) Consolidate and Rent/Lease state owned buildings.
8) Close state offices on Friday. This amounts to a 20% salary cut for public administrators, and a 20% savings on utilities.
Yes, I know that all of this amounts to very little, but just think -- going fron 0.65 to 2% in VLF generated 4 Billion dollars in Revenue. If you did that for Gasoline you could probably make that up fairly easily... back of the envelope calcs say... 26 million vehicles registered in California... let's say on average each vehicle uses 10 gallons a week. (I suspect it's higher than this, but just to keep the numbers easy...) raise gas by 10 cents a gallon and you have 26 million dollars a week. This amounts to 1.35 Billion dollars a year. Raise by 20 cents and you have 2.6 billion a year... raise to 40 and you've got 5.2 billion a year. Why do I like the gas tax? Licensed or unlicensed, in-state or out-of-state if they drive on public roads and highways, they should pay for it despite what their status might be. Will it be kinder on the environment? Yes. Will it encourage people to carpool or rideshare? Yes. Will it encourage people to use public transportation? Yes. It doesn't solve the problem, but it certainly is a step in the right direction.
good ideal solutions, but really, if you look at our "elected" officials, you'll see that each one of your solutions falls apart at the polls and would not be something that the "paid for by the rich" politicians would advocate for. sorry to burst your bubble.
Yeah, I know. That's why need to start electing people like Ralph Nader who are actually interested in community advocacy.