Crunch won’t end without reform

Regarding the column “Schwarzenegger discovers budget reality a bit late,” Nov. 9:

For all his big talk, I think Gov. Schwarzenegger has avoided the heavy lifting on many issues. Chief among these is tax reform. The greatest thing he could have done for our state was use his great initial popularity to change the two-thirds requirement for approving tax increases.

I want the basic services of a civilized society too. Yet until the two-thirds requirement is reformed, we won’t have the revenue to pay for them.

We are now faced with raising taxes in the middle of a recession and levying the most regressive type of tax to pay for necessities. It’s a sorry state -- no pun intended -- we are in.

Drew Davis

Redondo Beach

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The column is missing the most important point, which is: What did the governor and the California Legislature do with all the money the state was getting in tax for the last six years of prosperity?

Six years of income from hundreds of thousand of houses, cars and businesses built and sold in the state, as well as income tax from corporations and individuals -- they spent it all and more.

States do not set aside funds for times when the economy is in recession and income to the state is reduced. It must be a law that states must keep 10% in reserve for such purpose.

Yoel Cohen

Los Angeles

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Nice in-your-face critique of the governor’s miscalculation of the budget deficit. The column, however, failed to give a critique of the legislative leaders’ accountability in the process.

Nevertheless, I found no solutions to the state’s fiscal problems. Punditry aside, without solutions, the state’s problems will get worse.

David Zitch

Northridge