California To Begin Holding More Of Your Paycheck

[lostinblue 1,989]

http://cbs5.com/local/california.paycheck.....2.1280143.html

California To Begin Holding More Of Your Paycheck Reporting

Simon Perez

Starting Sunday, your paycheck will be a little bit smaller as the state begins withholding more from your paycheck to deal with the budget crisis.

"Beginning on November the first, there will be an additional 10 percent withheld," said H.D. Palmer, spokesperson for of the Department of Finance.

The state is closing part of this year's budget deficit by taking an advance on next year's tax revenues.

I wish I could laugh and say it sucks to be in California....but here in NY we are in as bad a shape. NY will be next to put this scam into place. In the county north of me 82 % of the county budget are state mandates. This will cause more people to flee the state.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Could a book keeper explain this one to me? So they are taking a cash advance basically. I know our book keeper uses quickbooks, will an update to the software make the change? I know I can freely change my filing type with her at any point. Whats to stop me from blunting this by say changing my filing type from dual income to single income which drops my state tax level by about that 10%? Seems like you can play with your withholding to compensate.

Edited November 2, 2009 by Sousuke

[one...two...tree 2,762]

from the article...

"It's a one-time acceleration, or on-time speeding up if you will, of tax dollars that would otherwise be collect next fiscal year."

But the state wants to make clear that the change, which has no cutoff date, is not a tax.

"This action in no way shape or form changes anyone's tax liability," said Palmer. "It just alters the amount that is being withheld."

California is taking more, but it's not a tax increase, because the state is going to give you the money back.

Come next April, if you owe taxes, the extra 10% will come off your bill. If you're due a refund, the extra 10% will be added to your refund.

....

Thanks to Prop 13, California is faced with having to come up with such schemes to raise revenue because the minority Republicans will block any tax increases, even if it means bankrupting the state.

[DeadPoolX 9]

from the article...

"It's a one-time acceleration, or on-time speeding up if you will, of tax dollars that would otherwise be collect next fiscal year."

But the state wants to make clear that the change, which has no cutoff date, is not a tax.

"This action in no way shape or form changes anyone's tax liability," said Palmer. "It just alters the amount that is being withheld."

California is taking more, but it's not a tax increase, because the state is going to give you the money back.

Come next April, if you owe taxes, the extra 10% will come off your bill. If you're due a refund, the extra 10% will be added to your refund.

....

Thanks to Prop 13, California is faced with having to come up with such schemes to raise revenue because the minority Republicans will block any tax increases, even if it means bankrupting the state.

It seems to me that the best solution would be if the state government could actually MANAGE its money and spend it wisely. That mantra is repeated over and over to the individual tax payer and yet, government (on any level) rarely practices it.

[Tsup2 0]

Tax increases in California are not the answer. Liberals have run the state in to the ground with all their entitlement programs and payoffs to special interests.

[lostinblue 1,989]

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2009/07/14/ric...lifornia-taxes/

The state will drive people to flee. Just as they are doing in NY state. Every solution with liberals is the same TAX increase.

Job creation means add more state workers to the pay roll. When you read about business owners leaving the state one reason is the regulations unique to california. Every regulation is a hidden added tax as the business owner has to spend money to comply. We here in ny state are just as bankrupt and old govenor dave just gave everyone on welfare a 12% raise. One thing for certain you will never get that money back. On april 15 you will get the money returned and on the 16th they will start taking again.I was compassionate in this manner myself once. Someone who smoked would always borrow money from me $20 on Monday. Friday he would pay it back. Monday he asked to borrow $20 again. Funny when I left that company I never did get my money. Kinda sounds like this scam. Until the day they make it really make it a tax that stays. As mentioned in the post above all you need to do is raise the number of deductions to get around the "free" loan.How will the liberals handle this. Are you going to run to the payroll office this morning or do your duty to the state(party) and lend them more money.

Edited November 2, 2009 by lostinblue

[SMR 368]

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2009/07/14/ric...lifornia-taxes/

The state will drive people to flee. Just as they are doing in NY state. Every solution with liberals is the same TAX increase.

Job creation means add more state workers to the pay roll. When you read about business owners leaving the state one reason is the regulations unique to california. Every regulation is a hidden added tax as the business owner has to spend money to comply. We here in ny state are just as bankrupt and old govenor dave just gave everyone on welfare a 12% raise. One thing for certain you will never get that money back. On april 15 you will get the money returned and on the 16th they will start taking again.I was compassionate in this manner myself once. Someone who smoked would always borrow money from me $20 on Monday. Friday he would pay it back. Monday he asked to borrow $20 again. Funny when I left that company I never did get my money. Kinda sounds like this scam. Until the day they make it really make it a tax that stays. As mentioned in the post above all you need to do is raise the number of deductions to get around the "free" loan.How will the liberals handle this. Are you going to run to the payroll office this morning or do your duty to the state(party) and lend them more money.

Well, if I remember right, last year California wrote a lot of people IOU's for their tax return last year. I never heard when they got paid back, but it's the same sort of scam.

People who think that California needs to raise more taxes, need to just look at other states. California has a huge economy, higher taxes than most states, yet most other states are balancing their budgets and California isn't.

I recently moved to New York from Washington. In Washington, I paid 8% sales tax. There is no income tax. Tab fees were around $130 for my car. My driver's license renewal cost $15. In New York, I pay 9% sales tax, income taxes (don't know the percentage, but I'm paying about $300 a month), tab fees are higher, driver's license renewal cost me $70. Property taxes are the highest in the nation in NY. The highway costs me $1.50 every time I use it. (I use the frontage road).

Yet I see nothing in NY that I didn't have in Washington. All the government buildings are less remodeled and service is slower. I guess I see a lot more people getting pulled over, but that should almost pay for itself. The schools are worse. The parks are uglier. College and University cost more. The roads are in worse repair. In honesty, I like the state. The people are good. The forests are pretty. But the government is taking more and giving less.

The problem is, every time the budget grows, the government makes more entitlement programs that most people don't care about. When the budget shrinks, they cut visible services like schools, police, and roads, and then claim that we need to raise taxes. It's the unstoppable creep.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

If nothing else this is an indication of how desperate the economic situation out there has become.

I don't think this is really Schwarzenegger's fault - there were only two realities on the table, raise taxes or cut spending across the board.

The voters didn't want higher taxes and so now they have wholesale slashing of budgets ranging from everything from law enforcement (expect large increases in the crime rate in the not too distant future) to education (expect lowered literacy and graduation rates). Tens of thousands of public workers have been laid off and even people like my FIL (who doesn't work for the govt) have been forced to take several unpaid work days per month.

[Peikko 1,575]

Reform is required - the way the state is run is messed up.

I can only assume the idea is that the economy will have improved by the time they would have taken this money and they somehow will not need it. That's pretty lousy reasoning.

That said, it's not simply a Democrat versus Republican ideology problem. The state needs to fix its budget and the method by which state spending is determined.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Tax increases in California are not the answer. Liberals have run the state in to the ground with all their entitlement programs and payoffs to special interests.

That's a lie. Prop 13 has been around for 30 years. You can look at California's rankings in things like schools before Prop 13 and since it went into law. The fact is, California is like a country in of itself and so our budgets aren't going to be anywhere near a state like South Dakota. When we are having to close state parks, release thousands of inmates, cut fire and police budgets, then you know that the problem isn't with expenditure. But the Right Wing Extremists who have taken hold of the Republican Party in just about every state will continue pitching that snake oil. They've done the same thing in Arizona, which is heavily Republican. Tell my parents who've lived there most of their lives, that Arizona's budget problem is because of liberal spending...you'll get laughed out of town.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well not unlike the issues with the Federal bailouts, there needs to be some control mechanism where these sorts of emergency interventions aren't required.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Well not unlike the issues with the Federal bailouts, there needs to be some control mechanism where these sorts of emergency interventions aren't required.

Yep. Read about North Dakota's solution - a state owned bank. It's worked for them since the early 1900's. It sounds like the best solution...

How the Nation's Only State-Owned Bank Became the Envy of Wall Street

[SMR 368]

Tax increases in California are not the answer. Liberals have run the state in to the ground with all their entitlement programs and payoffs to special interests.

That's a lie. Prop 13 has been around for 30 years. You can look at California's rankings in things like schools before Prop 13 and since it went into law. The fact is, California is like a country in of itself and so our budgets aren't going to be anywhere near a state like South Dakota. When we are having to close state parks, release thousands of inmates, cut fire and police budgets, then you know that the problem isn't with expenditure. But the Right Wing Extremists who have taken hold of the Republican Party in just about every state will continue pitching that snake oil. They've done the same thing in Arizona, which is heavily Republican. Tell my parents who've lived there most of their lives, that Arizona's budget problem is because of liberal spending...you'll get laughed out of town.

Like I said in my post, this is the answer of the government. Cut essential services and people will consent to higher taxes. They don't touch the pet-entitlement programs because most people wouldn't care. You can compare to other states. Having more people and denser population should mean that it's easier and more efficient to provide fire protection, parks, police, and schools. But yet California has higher taxes and the services are suffering. The only explanation is that the money has been squandered on entitlement programs that most people don't see.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Tax increases in California are not the answer. Liberals have run the state in to the ground with all their entitlement programs and payoffs to special interests.

That's a lie. Prop 13 has been around for 30 years. You can look at California's rankings in things like schools before Prop 13 and since it went into law. The fact is, California is like a country in of itself and so our budgets aren't going to be anywhere near a state like South Dakota. When we are having to close state parks, release thousands of inmates, cut fire and police budgets, then you know that the problem isn't with expenditure. But the Right Wing Extremists who have taken hold of the Republican Party in just about every state will continue pitching that snake oil. They've done the same thing in Arizona, which is heavily Republican. Tell my parents who've lived there most of their lives, that Arizona's budget problem is because of liberal spending...you'll get laughed out of town.

Like I said in my post, this is the answer of the government. Cut essential services and people will consent to higher taxes. They don't touch the pet-entitlement programs because most people wouldn't care. You can compare to other states. Having more people and denser population should mean that it's easier and more efficient to provide fire protection, parks, police, and schools. But yet California has higher taxes and the services are suffering. The only explanation is that the money has been squandered on entitlement programs that most people don't see.

But you want to qualify what is essential and what isn't as if doing so is clear cut and dry. Secondly, if money is spent on something, the idea is that we get something in return. Just like the whole debate around health care reform - if you're already spending money out or your pocket, and there a fiscal advantage to pooling those expenditures, then it is a worthy expenditure. I know that goes against the Republican mantra that government can never do anything as efficient as the private sector, but that's nothing but a rhetorical falsehood. If we could just get everyone to agree that for some things, state and local governments are better adept at managing the expenditure than the private sector. While you might call welfare programs and Medi-Cal as entitlements, I see them as essential services.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Tax increases in California are not the answer. Liberals have run the state in to the ground with all their entitlement programs and payoffs to special interests.

Tax increases are not the answer. The state and my local tax districts keep raising the salestax rate, currently 9% or 9.25%, depending on the district. The only problem? The quarterly payments I send usually run about the same, even declining over the last two years, because of reduced demand. The more money syphoned from the economy, the less money there is circulating. It doesn't take a plumber to understand that, but perhaps it should be one explaining economic theory, instead of the yahoos we have running the system now.