California has unique problems that only a few other states have. The majority of the public services, such as emergency room services, police, fire (ambulances for gunshot victims) jails, prisons, schools to some extent, etc., are used by people who don't pay any taxes. These are immigrants and "entitlement" program users, such as people on welfare, child services, MediCal, etc., who don't contribute anything to the state but who use a disportionate share of public services. And then there's proposition 13 that was passed years ago that reduced the taxes that property owners have to pay. So there's only so many sources the state has to fund all these essential services.
The last governor, Gray Davis, was recalled because he tried to triple the car registration fee to help defray the cost of operating CalTrans. He was also responsible for increasing the number of state employees (who get life time jobs and benefits, retirement, etc.) to where the state became the largest employer, exceeding Chevron and Boeing, the other 2 largest employers.
A lot of the problems California has is because the Federal Government won't help with the immigration problems that are a major expenditure of the state's budget.
Anytime Arnold tries to cut fat out of the budget, some union or group protests the cuts. |
