If the Governor demands our children, the disabled, and the poor to make sacrifices, then he ought to make the same demand on those who profit from loopholes in the tax system. We cannot continue to balance the budget on the backs of our poorest and most fragile people. It is wrong; it is reprehensible. But if the Governor and the Legislature work in unison and attack the root causes of the deficit, we can produce lasting solutions to ensure no other generation of California children will be put at risk again.
Now that California’s Presidential Primary is over, it looks like all eyes are back on Sacramento again. And so far, what we’re seeing isn’t looking pretty.
The state is facing a massive $14.5 million deficit. And what is our wonderful Governator asking the Legislature to do? Arnold wants across-the-board 10 percent cuts for all of the states departments, what Assembly Member Jim Beall (D-San Jose) calls “a meat-axe approach” that primarily hurts our youngest & most vulnerable Californians- foster care kids, students with disabilities, and children receiving CalWorks benefits.
So what can be done about the budget? Well, why not try to close all the corporate tax loopholes? Why not try reforming our regressive tax structure that allows the very affluent to pay less in taxes than all the rest of us? Why is “the t word” so dirty, and why are all these cuts in services to the poor and needy so acceptable?
Go ahead and read Asm. Jim Beall’s essay at the California Progress Report, and come back and discuss this issue here. Why can’t we have a budget that works for all of us, not just a privileged few? Why can’t we have a budget that respects all our people, including those in need?
Think about it.