Your proposal to put a 2.5% tax on industrial and commercial property would backfire. I am a commercial realtor. Most of the leases for commercial and industrial property have clauses allowing tax increases to be passed through to the tenant. An additional 1.5% tax on assessed value could be comparable to a 15+% rent increase on the business operating at the property, which would be a big hit to businesses at a time when the economy is slowing. If a tenant can’t pay that bill, it could throw the owner into default on his or her loan, if the tax increase is more than the cash flow.

Here’s a different idea: CUT SPENDING!!! State spending has increased by nearly $40 billion since the Governator took office. Cutting half of that back, and freezing spending until the economy recovers, is the best solution to the budget mess.

All car owners should pay a minimum fee, which represents the costs of the DMV bureacracy keeping track of their car and driver’s license.

Employers never pay payroll taxes. The employee does, in the form of lower wages. An employee’s productivity must cover all costs of employment, including taxes. If that productivity falls short, the employee’s pink slip will be in the mail, right behind the foreclosure papers.

Lastly, having a differential rate for “unearned” income like dividends, interest, and cap gains, massively increases the double tax on investment income, and will play havoc with savers. Some will abandon the state entirely, costing Sacramento billions. All dividend income is already taxed at the corporate level, in the form of taxes on corporate profits. To tax dividends at all is double-dipping. To tax them at a rate higher than wage and salary income is economic suicide. If interest is subjected to such a punitive tax, lenders will have to make it up by charging higher rates — just what CA’s wallopped housing market needs. Moreover, to call such income “unearned” is an insult, because to get my dividends, I had to save money after paying taxes, instead of spending it all and borrowing more. Dividend income is deferred earnings — the fruits of being responsible and saving money.

When it first appeared, Prop 13 was a benign seeming law that prevented unexpected (and unbudgeted) increases in tax expenses. It has turned into a monster. We have young people sholdering most of the property tax burden for the state.

In recent years there are also much wider fluctuations in the number of registrations. I would be interested to know whether there might have been a change in the method of collecting this data. In 2003 we see a massive drop back down to late 90s levels. How can this be explained by the housing bubble overflow treatise?

All I can see are two different charts that don’t seem to have any significant correlation whatsoever. I’m uncertain why we got a sudden bump at the end of the 90s, but the current increase might be attributable just to population growth.

I really think the inclusion of the auto registrations chart hurts your argument more than helps it.

might i make some suggestions on taxes:

Individual Income Tax-1. get rid of as many itemized credits, deductions & exemptions as possible. use the $$$ saved from this to double the standard deduction & exemption. allow taxpayers to deduct charitable contributions, local property taxes on their homes, mortgage interest on principle homes on top of the standard deduction & exemption.

2. tax earned income(wages, salaries & net income from biz) at half the rate dollar for dollar that u would tax unearned income (interest, dividends, capital gains, gambling, lottery, royalties, etc.)

SDI Tax: 1. take cap off of wage base
2. split the tax burden between employees & employers equally-like soc. security & medicare.

doing these things will allow the worker’s tax to drop dramatically w/out reducing benefits.

Sales & Use Tax 1. cap rate @ 5.0% statewide. 3.75% state, 1.25% local (bradley-burns)
2. tax articles of clothing only after their cost is more than $175

Vehicle License Fee a.k.a. “Car Tax”
1. give all vehicles subject to the vlf a standard exemption equal to the median book value of vehicles in CA. what this means is if the median value is lets say $10,000 then the first $10,000 of each vehicle is exempt from the tax. half of all vehicles will not pay ANY car tax.

2. double the tax rate to make up for lost revenue-so it is revenue neutral & doesnt screw local govts.

this essentially makes this tax a “luxury tax” which i think is what excise taxes are. the vlf is an excise tax to me because cars depreciate in value-like say tvs & clothing-but unlike real estate, at least most of the time.

Property Taxes
1. adopt a classified rate system like most other states do. for instance

Residential Property 1.0% of assessed value
Commercial & Industrial 2.5%

2. adopt a circuit breaker/rebate program for principal residences-whether rented or owned. once the occupant of a principal residence pays a certain portion of their income in property taxes-they dont pay any more, the state makes up the difference. if they have paid more, they receive a refund.

3. allow elected officials to set tax rates & make decisions again on operating budgets w/out having to hold referendums. if it is so bad let voters vote the bumbs/elected officials out.

Gasoline/Fuel Taxes
1. index taxes to inflation-rather than what the federal tax is.

2. repeal sales tax on gasoline, it is in my opinion double dipping.

well…i think ive gone on WAY too long. ive just felt this way for a LONG time and wanted to take the opportunity this blog/forum has provided me to let people know what i think

OK, I figure that 85% of all Cadillac Escalades, Chevy Tahoes and Lincoln Navigators (aka The Rolling Embarassment: it just screams Look at Me! I’m Nouveau Riche!) were paid for from re-fi’s and HELOCs.

So, those are goners. They might as well just put those models on hold for a few years.