Courtesy of Mish.
There are 166 tax increase proposals on the ballot in California. 118 of them are bond proposals. It matters little what the proposals are for.
Forget about any claim, “it’s for the kids”. Politicians have a way of doing whatever they want with the money once the tax hikes pass.
Ed Ring writing for Union Watch notes new tax revenue is in too many cases, suspiciously equal to the amount that pension contributions need to be raised in the next few years.
But wait, doesn’t money have to be spent on what the bond proposal says it’s for? If you think so, please consider this guest post by Ed Ring.
Note: everything that follows until the last line is from Ring.
California’s $12.3 Billion in Proposed School Bonds: Borrowing vs. Reform
“As the result of California Courts refusing to uphold the language of the High Speed Rail bonds, the opponents of any bond proposal, at either the state or local level, need only point to High-Speed Rail to remind voters that promises in a voter approved bond proposal are meaningless and unenforceable.”
Jon Coupal, October 26, 2014, HJTA California Commentary
If that isn’t plain enough – here’s a restatement: California’s politicians can ask voters to approve bonds, announcing the funds will be used for a specific purpose, then they can turn around and do anything they want with the money. And while there’s been a lot of coverage and debate over big statewide bond votes, the real money is in the countless local bond issues that collectively now encumber California’s taxpayers with well over $250 billion in debt.
Over the past few weeks we’ve tried to point out that local tax increases – 166 of them on the November 4th ballot at last count, tend to be calibrated to raise an amount of new tax revenue that, in too many cases, are suspiciously equal to the amount that pension contributions are going to be raised over the next few years. For three detailed examples of how local tax increases will roughly equal the impending increases to required pension contributions, read about Stanton, Palo Alto, and Watsonville‘s local tax proposals. It is impossible to analyze them all.
As taxes increase, money remains fungible. More money, more options. They can say it’s for anything they want. And apparently, bonds are no better.
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