In case you are wondering if your particular city has a higher-than-usual tax than those around you, look here:

http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/pdf/Pending_Rates-4-09.pdf

Apparently, certainly cities have local taxes that will bump up what you owe even more than the town next over.

Looks like I won't be shopping in El Monte (the town next over).

you might want to stay away from scotland too

Bought a hummer yesterday.

Whew, just under the wire.

arcata: 9%

well, whatever

It would be useful if that pdf said what some of the percentages are earmarked for.

California has a huge budget defecit, higher than average cost-of-living expenses, and a 12% unemployment rate. They're already deferring tax refunds 6+ weeks...

Gotta get those sheckles wherever you can, one transaction at a time.

Hmm, I already got mine. Guess I might have to give it back.

Nashville pays around 11% when we go grocery shopping. But, we don't have state income tax.

especially since they're not going to exist pretty soon.

Wasn't talking about Hummers.

CA is such a joke...and we're supposed to approve more taxation initiatives? yeah right.

I run an adult school of 20,000 students... many low literacy, unemployed, immigrant... and older, disabled...

I have 40 permanent teachers and 160 parttime teachers. They have all received layoff notices. That's a result of the 20-25% cuts we are suffering in the most recent budget.

If these initiatives don't pass in May our very existence is in question. Unemployment is well over 20% in the community where my school is. Our attendance has exploded with people unemployed and very scared needing literacy, numeracy, job training...

At exactly the time we are needed most we may close our doors. That is hardly a joke for those who need us, those most vulnerable to the recession/depression.

It's crazy how CA has organized their government, Harry. The state really needs to look at it's revenue stream.

That said. LSU is getting bit in the ass with budget cuts here too. Pretty much undoing all the work that brought the University and its professional schools into tier 1 status over the last decade.

CA look at its revenue stream? We are completely fucked, dysfunctional, illogical, and NIMBYing ourselves to a kind of death. Ever since Prop 13 in 1977 froze property taxes there has been a series of self-destructive decisions about state budget formation, approval, revenue etc.

We also spend less money on education than 45 other states...

It's time for a state constitutional convention and completely re-write the state government.

Is this the thread where Harry starts chanting "Attica!"?

desperate to get their mitts on your tax dollars.

Don't you have a hooker to beat up or something?

LOLOLOLOL

I live in Michigan. It ain't any better here. Thank goodness we have the NCAA tourney this weekend - that ought to bring in some major bucks.

GO BIG THREE!

Well, 10% on purchases off the bat... Plus regular state taxes & statewide mandatory disability insurance that doesn't really pay off adding up to about 8.5% of our gross income...

How can we be (by far) the richest state in the Union, and/or 2 of the top 5 if you split Southern CA from Northern CA , and be so far in debt due to atypical public expenditures...


...Yet only have 2 senators, and have 8x the (census-confirming) populace of 6 states, and be at least 2x the populace of every other state save Texas...

I think the dramatic raise in State Tax is the fault of:

1) The 1977 Property Tax Caps passed, and...
2) The Feds

I mean, public mismanagement of funds and/or corruption is also a cause, but that those 2 things mean I'm basically paying an extra 2.5% per wash/dry within my own apartment building this week, and will pay 4% more for 3 Filet-O-Fish Sandwiches for my meal(s) tomorrow than I did last Friday...

every evening we meet downtown slip underground into the basements
there’s an agent who’s tracking us he knows what’s up he’s felt vibrations
shake this quiet town but now his ear is to the ground
our secret’s out
pack up the gear
load up the van and hurry back to the safe house
send a wire through the network that they’ve infiltrated the resistance
so we gotta burn our records now


c’mon and burn them up
and melt them down into a statue for the town
a monument to the underground
we’ll destroy all documents that could prove that we exist
they’ll be sifting through ashes desperate for the evidence

no they won’t stop ‘til they find something to sell
all they’re gonna find are bombshells

c’mon and blow it up
the whole compound
with distortion that resounds
a memorial for the underground
and so we’ll burn it down

on the periscope we watch familiar informants selling us out
they trade for bad haircuts, some tight black pants and a sparkling new sound
now the radio transmits a hollow carcass of the resistance
‘cause they’ve gutted out the urgency and replaced it with impotence

our sweat is more than bleeding stage make-up
our words aren’t trite they’re bloody dangerous
our songs are the lifeblood of the resistance

c’mon and tear it up
and burn it down with explosions of our sound
and dig a grave for the underground
but the songs stuck in our heads won’t be burned and left for dead
they’re the songs we’ll never sell
we keep them locked within ourselves
c’mon and tear it up

no they won’t stop ‘til they find something to sell
there’s nothing to find ‘cause we blew it all to hell

as a future receipient of this I hope it is not fucked with.

Post, how are you defining "rich" in this instance? I'm not arguing with your assertion, but just curious as to exactly what you mean by it.

The fact that the economy of California is a dominant force in the economy of the United States, with California paying more to the federal system than it receives in direct monetary benefits.

As proof, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, California's gross state product is $1.727 trillion (as of June 07, 2007), yet we seem to receive less federal attention proportionally than states with less than 18% of our (legally reported) populace.

Point being, we pay more than we take out Federally, plus we're paying a substantial amount "Locally". "Rich", for CA, doesn't necessarily mean "Rich In Culture/History/Etc." but will, for the foreseeable future, mean "Rich in Generated Income".