IT'S TIME TO STOP LYING to voters, and to yourselves, about the recent election.
"Give people a vote which includes taxes of the kind they find unfair and cuts essential services. Then, when they turn it down, pretend that they voted in favor of cutting services and against fair taxes."
As one voter who voted with the majority on every single measure, I can tell you that neither I, nor any of my acquaintances who voted the same way, were voting against taxes.
Nor were we voting to cut government services.
If you want to know what your real mandate is, listen closely.
We voted against proposition 1A because:
-
It would have given the governor more power over actual spending, allowing governors to cut back on programs which are essential to the welfare of California.
-
It would have used an increase in the sales tax (which weighs unfairly on the working poor, and less on the wealthy) to get us through this crisis.
-
It would have encouraged the state to cut spending in times of recession, such as those we are facing now, which is exactly the worst time for government to be laying off workers, cutting back on contracts, and in general making the situation worse instead of better.
We voted against proposition 1B because it's a short-term cut in education for California, without any clear upside later on. This is not only a disservice to our children, their future, and the future of the state, but it's another example of government cuts which at this time would drive the state deeper into recession.
We voted against proposition 1C because it would take lottery money from the educational programs it currently goes to, and use it to avoid raising taxes.
We voted against proposition 1D because it would balance the general fund at the expense of the critically important First Five programs.
We voted against proposition 1E because it would cut funding for mental health programs.
We voted for proposition 1F because we are tired of a legislature and a governor who continue to cut state services and who will only consider taxes which place the burden on the poor.
Notice a pattern?
The idea that this represents a "voter mandate against taxes" is complete nonsense.
Worse—it's a lie.
But it's a clever lie: simply give people a vote which includes taxes of the kind they find unfair and cuts essential services. Then, when they turn it down, pretend that they voted in favor of cutting services and against fair taxes.
A recent poll of California voters shows that only 20% believed that the election was "a sincere effort by the Governor and legislators from both parties to gain approval of compromise proposals to fix our state's budget mess."
The same poll found that:
75% support increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages
74% support increasing taxes on tobacco
73% support imposing an oil extraction tax like every other oil producing state
63% support closing the loophole that allows corporations to avoid reassessment of new property they purchase
63% support raising the top bracket of the state income tax from 9.3% to 10% for families making over $272,000, and to 11% for families making over $544,000!
59% support prohibiting corporations from using tax credits to offset more than half of their taxesOn the other hand:
76% oppose cutting public school spending
73% oppose cutting funding for state colleges and universities
68% oppose health care cuts
62% oppose cutting homecare services
The election showed that voters want the wealthy and large corporations to stop riding on the backs of the poor and middle class, and that we do not want to balance the budget by cutting essential services or education or by driving the economy deeper into a recession.
In other words, we have more common sense than Governor Schwarzenegger.
There's your mandate.
Sincerely,
A voter
