State is in tax trouble

Re “Budget fix could raise sales taxes,” July 18

A note to the folks in Sacramento: We’re not sure how much clearer we can make it -- we want you to fix the traffic. We passed $1.1 billion in special funds for transportation because you kept raiding the transportation budget to “balance” the general budget, so now you’re planning to help yourselves again, at an interest rate that is more like a check-cashing place than a bank.

If you had done what the people wanted in the first place, we wouldn’t have had to resort to the initiative process. Admit that you’re not smart enough to balance the budget without passing more debt to the future, and resign, all of you -- it’s the best thing you could do for California.

Dave Lieberman

Anaheim

Re “Plan raises taxes on the state’s wealthiest,” July 18

As a tax attorney, I think the opening statement in this article is misleading. It should say that California’s individual income tax rate on high-income individuals is among the highest in the United States, but that it is the effective tax rate that really counts.

Many large corporations pay no California income taxes at all because of incentive credits. Many high-income individuals are able to take advantage of huge income tax exclusions and pay a lower effective income tax rate than middle- or lower-income families.

In addition, wealthier individuals pay less sales and use taxes as a percentage of their total income, because they spend their earnings on luxury services that are not subject to sales and use taxes, and they can make large purchases of items such as yachts out of state and leave those items out of state long enough to avoid paying.

The wealthy benefit far more from Proposition 13 than people who have less-valuable homes or no homes at all.

The California anti-tax lobby needs to be stopped. Repeatedly protesting that the rich pay too much is boring and simply untrue.

Bradley M. Heller

Elk Grove

Does anyone get the parallel? All the people in California who have been spending beyond their means are now looking for someone to bail them out. Same with the Legislature.

When are Democrats going to learn that the answer to the problem to is cut back, not spend more? It’s a case of monkey see, monkey do, and in California, there are a lot of monkeys on the loose.

Amy Kramer

Laguna Beach