California Budget Doesn’t Add Up

Columnist George Skelton is wrong in saying that taxes should be raised on the rich to make up for state budget shortfalls (“Raking in Millions? State Should Raise Your Taxes,” Aug. 19). The state budget grew by 36% the last three years, well above the growth in population and inflation. If spending growth had simply followed the combined rate of inflation and population growth, the budget would still be 21.8% larger than it was when Gov. Gray Davis took office. But instead of all the proposed tax increases just to get the budget balanced, we would instead have a $38.2-billion surplus.

Doing as Skelton suggests will simply cause the same problems later on. Sending more money to the bottomless pit in Sacramento solves nothing. Keeping money in the hands of the taxpayers does. If the politicians don’t have the money, they can’t spend it, and we’ll all be better off.

Fred Mangels

Eureka

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Skelton makes a painfully obvious point when he says we need to help reduce a $24-billion state revenue shortfall by a two-year raise on the state income tax rates on the 2.3% of the state’s highest income earners. Anyone who objects to this on the grounds that spending should be cut instead should be required to specifically say what those cuts should be.

Anyone who says it is just another example of “class warfare” should be required to explain why a short-term tax increase on those who are most able to pay it is pitting classes against each other. Those who think the tax increase will happen in light of how politicians get their campaign funds need to have their heads examined.

John Patrick Ormsbee

Newport Beach

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“Assembly GOP Leader Hones Balancing Act” (Aug. 18) left me troubled. It portrayed Assembly Republican leader Dave Cox as a tough politician and effective legislator. Reality demonstrates otherwise. Fifty days have passed, and there is still no state budget. According to the California Department of Finance, the state is losing $3 million a day because of the Assembly’s inability to compromise on a budget. The governor’s office puts that loss at $15 million a day. More important, thousands of citizens, including the elderly and disabled, are being hurt because the state--without a budget--doesn’t have authority to pay many of its bills. In light of these facts, it is inappropriate to praise any member of the Assembly, let alone one of its leaders.

Ross Thomas

San Francisco