« All your carz belong ... | Main | Democrat long knives »

May 09, 2008

Will work for taxes

More Californication

As state leaders hunt for politically palatable solutions to the swelling budget shortfall, some Democrats are proposing unorthodox ways to generate cash. [...]

Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Montebello), chairman of the Revenue and Taxation Committee [... ] has proposed some of the Legislature's more unconventional measures, including taxes on digital downloads and adult entertainment. [...]

Calderon said he was moved to push for levies on downloads such as iTunes because state sales tax laws do not reflect the high volume of purchasing that Californians do online. Consumers can download music from the Internet through Apple's iTunes and other services tax-free, Calderon noted, while they pay sales tax for buying the same music on a compact disc at a store.

His proposal would empower state authorities to collect sales tax on the downloads, increasing the cost of a typical 99-cent song to roughly $1.07. Calderon projects that the bill (AB 1956), which could also apply to pornography downloads, cellphone ring-tones, online books and feature films distributed on the Internet, would raise about $500 million for the state budget. [...]

Calderon said the resistance to his bill did not surprise him. But he is perplexed that he hasn't been able to get more traction for another proposal: a 25% tax on sex toys, strip shows, pornographic magazines and videos and anything else sold in an "adult entertainment venue." [...]

Assemblyman Mike Davis (D-Los Angeles) is targeting a wider group of consumers. Almost every Californian would bear some of the brunt of his proposal to charge a 25-cent tax on every plastic carryout bag from stores. [...]

"A person is going to think carefully before spending a quarter to get a bag," Davis said. [...]

AB 2388 by Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) would place a surcharge on vehicles based on their weight and the amount of carbon dioxide they emit. Assemblyman Joe Coto (D-San Jose) wants to collect new fees from drivers of luxury vehicles that get less than 15 miles per gallon. His bill is AB 2638.


But Mike Davis is quick to prove California's socialists Democrats aren't just about tax levying. They are there to help out your poor, suffering grandparents, too.
Davis says he knows people are suffering financially and has proposed a property tax break for low-income seniors. There's a catch: The proposal (AB 2459) would require seniors to "work off" their taxes in county offices, doing such jobs as gardening, record filing or data entry.

So the next time you walk into a state office, court or the DMV and see grandma on the other side of the counter balancing a stack of files on her walker, remember Mike Davis and the true face of Democrat fairness.

Yeah, baby.

Posted by Darleen at May 9, 2008 06:18 AM

Comments