4 ms·

Yeah yeah yeah, the latest variation on the theme of California on the brink....it's always the same nonsense, packaged differently. Take a number...

by zeruch 4y ago

__pache__ 4y ago
err... the trends are good...? is it possible to hollow out a tax base, or not?
- zeruch 4y ago
  Also the same verbiage used repeatedly. Every time. For decades. And I've been here for decades, so I have literally observed this from detractors since the 80s.
  - __pache__ 4y ago
    What about the thread we're in right now?
    - zeruch 4y ago
      Same dung, different cycle. If you think taxes are worse now than they were in the 70s and 80s, I'd say the deja vu is ardent. There was a time in this country (back in the 50s and 60s) where the highest tax rate on income was near 90%, and corporate tax rates were several times higher than now. We've fooled ourselves into thinking that CA is "the worst for taxes" when we aren't. We certainly don't carry the lowest tax burden, but this isn't a race for the top or bottom, but what you get for it. I'd argue one of the daftest things about US discourse on taxes is the absolutism of whether "taxation is theft" (it isn't, it's part of the cost of doing business as a country) but what is the return on the service quality of those taxes, are their uses auditable, is the transparency around them good...it usually isn't, but then we also do nothing to improve that, which makes most of our perpetually binary and dumb tax talk that much more annoying.
      - __pache__ 4y ago
        Here's a practical example: I hire people from California. I had to fill out multiple forms and now pay extra tax just for those guys. I don't have to do this anywhere else. California is famous for squandering wealth on huge projects, aren't they? Wasn't like 60k per homeless person spent? We live on different planets. It's awful to do business in/with California, sorry. And yes their taxes are awful. The worst in the USA dude, I'm so confused..? Who is worse? Good luck.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  What if it is poorer people leaving?
  - selfmodruntime 4y ago
    The middle class is leaving. Rich people in retirement can enjoy the better parts of Cali for all its worth. The poorest (homeless) can't really leave.
    - ethyw45wy45 4y ago
      Most of the homeless come from out of state. The reason they can stay is that they didn't arrive with the ambition to rise at all because that's not a requirement for receiving free benefits or good weather.

Yeah yeah yeah, the latest variation on the theme of California on the brink....it's always the same nonsense, packaged differently. Take a number...

by zeruch 4y ago

Yeah yeah yeah, the latest variation on the theme of California on the brink....it's always the same nonsense, packaged differently. Take a number...

__pache__ 4y ago

err... the trends are good...? is it possible to hollow out a tax base, or not?

zeruch 4y ago
Also the same verbiage used repeatedly. Every time. For decades. And I've been here for decades, so I have literally observed this from detractors since the 80s.
- __pache__ 4y ago
  What about the thread we're in right now?
  - zeruch 4y ago
    Same dung, different cycle. If you think taxes are worse now than they were in the 70s and 80s, I'd say the deja vu is ardent. There was a time in this country (back in the 50s and 60s) where the highest tax rate on income was near 90%, and corporate tax rates were several times higher than now. We've fooled ourselves into thinking that CA is "the worst for taxes" when we aren't. We certainly don't carry the lowest tax burden, but this isn't a race for the top or bottom, but what you get for it. I'd argue one of the daftest things about US discourse on taxes is the absolutism of whether "taxation is theft" (it isn't, it's part of the cost of doing business as a country) but what is the return on the service quality of those taxes, are their uses auditable, is the transparency around them good...it usually isn't, but then we also do nothing to improve that, which makes most of our perpetually binary and dumb tax talk that much more annoying.
    - __pache__ 4y ago
      Here's a practical example: I hire people from California. I had to fill out multiple forms and now pay extra tax just for those guys. I don't have to do this anywhere else. California is famous for squandering wealth on huge projects, aren't they? Wasn't like 60k per homeless person spent? We live on different planets. It's awful to do business in/with California, sorry. And yes their taxes are awful. The worst in the USA dude, I'm so confused..? Who is worse? Good luck.
lotsofpulp 4y ago
What if it is poorer people leaving?
- selfmodruntime 4y ago
  The middle class is leaving. Rich people in retirement can enjoy the better parts of Cali for all its worth. The poorest (homeless) can't really leave.
  - ethyw45wy45 4y ago
    Most of the homeless come from out of state. The reason they can stay is that they didn't arrive with the ambition to rise at all because that's not a requirement for receiving free benefits or good weather.