Texas cuts taxes, spending: Now surplus and booming economy

[_lulu]

Californians recently voted to raise their taxes.

Californians approve massive tax hike on the wealthy:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/07/news/ec ... index.html

California Proposition 30, Sales and Income Tax Increase (2012):
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/C ... %282012%29

Calif. sales tax rate to increase by a quarter-cent:
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?secti ... id=8938686


California now clearly has the highest State sales tax rate in the Nation, which is now at 7.5%.

I think Tennessee still has that honor with a combined rate of 9.44%. Also, the higher tax rate in CA is an effort to make up for the short come due to lower property tax rate increases (proposition 13... Howard Jarvis).

California does not tax food products that are prepared at home (groceries). Some states still do.

TN has no earned income tax.

[_Quasimodo]

TN has no earned income tax.

And wages are much lower in TN than in CA. Which more than makes up for the difference in state income taxes. Not to mention the higher utility costs in a climate that is pretty tough in Summer without air conditioning and pretty tough in the Winter without heat (Spring and Fall are OK and the people are lovely).

I live in California now and I lived in Tennessee for some years. If anyone is considering moving to Tennessee from California, they have my heart felt sympathies.

[_EAllusion]

I think of the libertarian "utopia" as Robert Nozick's utopia of utopias. The gist of it is since people are all complex and quite different from one another in their desires, there's every reason to think that no one community could possibly serve as ideal for everyone. If you wanted to maximize fulfillment of people, as a normative matter, it would be preferable for government to allow spontaneous community formation such that individuals can pursue their own interests in their own way provided they do not prevent others from doing the same. Let people have the liberty to pursue happiness as they see fit in the associations they see fit and you produce a more ideal state than any one-size fits all plan.

[_lulu]

I think Marx's heart was probably in the right place, but Communism was and is a failure due to what you just said. People in general are not saintly enough to pull it off.

I think Marx was brilliant in figuring out and describing how western European social structures developed and existed in his time. However, you almost always go wrong trying to predict the future, he was smart enough to have known better.

What he didn't understand was human nature.

The US Founders were geniuses when it came to understanding human nature and how to deal with it. They limited their best work to their own class, but others, less advantaged, have taken those ideas and run with them.

[_Brackite]

Californians recently voted to raise their taxes.

Californians approve massive tax hike on the wealthy:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/07/news/ec ... index.html

California Proposition 30, Sales and Income Tax Increase (2012):
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/C ... %282012%29

Calif. sales tax rate to increase by a quarter-cent:
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?secti ... id=8938686


California now clearly has the highest State sales tax rate in the Nation, which is now at 7.5%.

I think Tennessee still has that honor with a combined rate of 9.44%. Also, the higher tax rate in CA is an effort to make up for the short come due to lower property tax rate increases (proposition 13... Howard Jarvis).

California does not tax food products that are prepared at home (groceries). Some states still do.

Well, California now clearly has the highest minimum state sales tax in the Nation.
The Following is from Wikipedia:

Sales and use taxes in California are among the highest in the United States and can be levied by the state and local governments.

...

At 7.50%, California has the highest minimum state sales tax in the United States, which can total up to 10.00% with local sales tax included. [1]

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_and_ ... California


Proposition 30 from California ended up recently increasing the State Sales tax by a quarter-cent percent. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association in California came out in full opposition to Proposition 30 before it ended up Passing there.
If Democratic Governor Jerry Brown wanted to change and amend Proposition 13, he could have very likely made Proposition 30 about that. However, Jerry Brown decided not to want to change and amend Proposition 13.

[_Brackite]

Thanks to Calif.’s Proposition 30, Texas is going to see more business growth.

Calif.’s Prop 30 bodes well for C. Texas business recruiting

California’s Proposition 30, which raised taxes on consumers and top earners, is spurring businesses there to consider moving to or expanding in Austin.

“Since the [Nov. 6] election, we’ve probably had a dozen calls from small to midsize companies saying ‘enough is enough,’ and looking to get out of California,” said Dave Porter, head of economic development at the Austin Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber guides companies that are considering relocation or expansions in Austin.

The Chamber has 139 companies looking at coming to Austin, and more than 50 percent of them are from California, Porter said.

Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/print ... -well.html

[_bcspace]

I wish conservative America could have it's own country.

We'd probably need to go to war to cut into the west coast somehow so we can have access to the Pacific. I nominate a strip of southern California that includes San Diego. An added benefit here besides the military bases, would be cutting off the WLF (West Liberal America) from illegal immigrants. Over time, the WLF would now be susceptible to our own Reconquista.

There would likely be war with the ELA from Ohio to Virginia (We need to take and hold Norfolk first for the naval bases). But I'd mostly trade land there until we had Florida locked down and controlled. Then I would drive the ELA into small city states like D.C., Baltimore, New York, and Boston and lay siege. Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit would likely be wasted ala Stalingrad but the CA would be victorious.

Everyone would have to take up arms since the CA would be at war on all sides. We would win because LA is like West and West Pakistan was during their wars with India.

[_EAllusion]

How is the great conservative United States going to handle being nuked for its aggression?

[_Quasimodo]

I wish conservative America could have it's own country.

We'd probably need to go to war to cut into the west coast somehow so we can have access to the Pacific. I nominate a strip of southern California that includes San Diego. An added benefit here besides the military bases, would be cutting off the WLF (West Liberal America) from illegal immigrants. Over time, the WLF would now be susceptible to our own Reconquista.

I think the Panama canal still works (not sure why access to the Pacific matters to you, but whatever). Why don't you and Ajax move to Texas and lobby for secession? After all, who would miss it?

[_Brackite]

Go Get 'Em, Rick!!!

Rick Perry in California to Lure Businesses to Texas

...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is on a four-day recruitment trip to California this week, trying to lure Golden State businesses to set up shop in the Lone Star state.

The trip, which began Sunday, will take Perry to San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Orange County, but the recruitment started last Monday when Perry made an ad buy in California inviting Golden State businesses to enjoy the tax and regulatory benefits available to them in Texas

“Building a business is tough, but I hear building a business in California is next to impossible. This is Texas Governor Rick Perry, and I have a message for California businesses. Come check out Texas,” Perry says in the 30-second ad. “There are plenty of reasons Texas has been named the best state for doing business for eight years running. Visit texaswideopenforbusiness.com and see why our low taxes, sensible regulations and fair legal system are just the thing to get your business moving to Texas.”

When Perry began making his overtures to California businesses last week, California Gov. Jerry Brown said the attempt didn’t amount to much.

“It’s not a serious story, guys…you take a little radio ad, all you guys run like lapdogs to report it,” Brown said. “It’s not a burp, it’s barely a fart.”

The attempts may not be registering on Brown’s radar, but California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom seemed to have a different idea about the effectiveness of Perry’s campaign. He told a radio station last week that Perry is “getting in our heads.”

“Perry’s getting exactly what he wanted,” Newsom told KQED Thursday. “He’s getting all kinds of press up and down the state, and why? Well, because he’s leaning in. He’s in the game. He’s getting in our heads.”

This isn’t the first time Perry and his Texas administration have tried to lure other states’ businesses and residents to Texas. Last month, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott ran advertisements in New York State, welcoming any New Yorkers who wanted to protect their Second Amendment rights to move to Texas after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo started his new gun-control push.

Link: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/20 ... -to-texas/