… from taxpayers to Sacramento
Starting Sunday, cash-strapped California will dig deeper into the pocketbooks of wage earners — holding back 10% more than it already does in state income taxes just as the biggest shopping season of the year kicks into gear.Technically, it’s not a tax increase, even though it may feel like one when your next paycheck arrives. As part of a bundle of budget patches adopted in the summer, the state is taking more money now in withholding, even though workers’ annual tax bills won’t change.
Think of it as a forced, interest-free loan: You’ll be repaid any extra withholding in April. [...]
The extra withholding comes in addition to tax hikes the state enacted this year.
In February, state income tax rates were bumped up 0.25 of a percentage point for every tax bracket. The dependent credit was slashed by two-thirds. The state sales tax rate rose 1 percentage point. The vehicle license fee nearly doubled to 1.15% of a car’s value.
Comment by No one you know on 11/1 @ 2:13 pm #
As was pointed out elsewhere, the CA state government has already been issuing IOUs, so why do tax payers in California think they are actually going to get this money back?
Comment by JHo on 11/1 @ 2:33 pm #
So the State of California, having squandered untold millions during normal times, finds it upside down when times go bad. Technically, when one individual takes from another without the latter’s consent, it’s illegal and a crime has been committed. So why is it legal when one group takes from another without the latter’s consent?
Seems to me the state might want to just keep that cash. Then they can call it a tax.
Comment by SBP on 11/1 @ 2:40 pm #
If nothing else, the taxpayer is out the opportunity cost of having that money ahead of time (interest, enjoyment of the discretionary consumer goods it could have bought, avoidance of hardship inherent in not being able to purchase necessities, inability to take advantage of investment opportunites that might arise… you name it).
Also, as No one pointed out, it remains to be seen whether the taxpayers will, in fact, “be repaid any extra withholding in April”. You wouldn’t lend money to an acquaintance who was in a financial situation similar to California’s (you might do that for a good friend, but you’d do it with full understanding that there was a good chance that the “loan” wouldn’t be paid back on time, or possibly at all).
Comment by Pablo on 11/1 @ 2:46 pm #
Wait, whose money did you think it was, anyway?
Comment by Great Mencken's Ghost! on 11/1 @ 2:46 pm #
JHO — I believe when agents of the state do it, it’s called “pillage.”
Comment by JHo on 11/1 @ 2:53 pm #
Either that or benevolence, Great Mencken.
Comment by BJTexs on 11/1 @ 2:58 pm #
Wouldn’t there be some kind of a basis for a lawsuit here? The state is taking revenue in excess of the tax rate. It seems as though some sharp attorney could make a name for himself.
What a pathetic excuse for a state California has become.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 11/1 @ 3:33 pm #
Is this a joke? The state is literally just taking money out of peoples paychecks now? I would be fuckin pissed.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 11/1 @ 3:36 pm #
How the hell is this legal?
Comment by Darleen on 11/1 @ 3:39 pm #
Mr. Pink
Obama already played games with withholding earlier this year…it is going to bite a lot of taxpayers in the ass come next 4/15/2010 since that “extra” money (their OWN) in their paycheck was not the result of any tax cut.
Comment by SDN on 11/1 @ 3:42 pm #
Sovereign immunity. After all, even if the courts rule in your favor, how will they enforce it? Call O!’s DOJ?
If I was in CA, I would run for the border as fast as possible.
Comment by slackjawedyokel on 11/1 @ 3:42 pm #
Legal???? Surely you jest.
We are all about to be smacked with a “mandate” that fines us as individuals for not buying a product — in this case health insurance. Government now is the terrible abstraction that apparently can do anything it damned well pleases, Constitution notwithstanding.
Comment by Rick on 11/1 @ 3:43 pm #
No problemo–Calis should immediately increase their state income tax exemptions. It’s a good idea no matter what the economic and tax regime climate. Pay as you owe, not as you go.
And it makes them wait for your money, right up to the deadline.
Cordially…
Comment by Rick on 11/1 @ 3:43 pm #
Shorter above: “refunds are for suckers.”
Comment by happyfeet on 11/1 @ 3:43 pm #
California is fucking evil.
Comment by slackjawedyokel on 11/1 @ 3:43 pm #
And don’t call me Shirley.
Comment by JHo on 11/1 @ 3:45 pm #
Yeah, but they have most of Tahoe, ‘feets/
Comment by JHo on 11/1 @ 3:45 pm #
keyboard hates me today…
Comment by Mr. Pink on 11/1 @ 3:48 pm #
Whoever came up with this idea should be drug out of whatever office they hide in and put in stocks in the townsquare for people to hurl refuse at.
Comment by Pablo on 11/1 @ 3:52 pm #
Grrr….
The spam filter sucks. Re Darleen’s #10
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29314485/
Comment by Pablo on 11/1 @ 3:53 pm #
Tax cuts, you see. Even stupid people are going to be pissed come tax time. We should move the filing deadline to April 1, just because it would be apropos.
Comment by Jeffersonian on 11/1 @ 4:05 pm #
JHO — I believe when agents of the state do it, it’s called “pillage.”
I’m more a fan of “plunder” myself, and this is nothing more than plunder: The State grabbing your property to pay off the constituencies it is captive to.
I’ve seen this scam in action once before, when I lived in Brazil. The central government mandated a “compulsory loan” from the citizenry, promising a cruzado-for-cruzado repayment on a certain timetable (inflation at the time was on the order of 900% per annum, so the cruzados it was repaying the “loan” with were worth a tiny fraction of those borrowed). When it came time to repay the loans, the federales didn’t have even the inflation-ravaged cruzados to give back, so they issued stock certificates to every taxpayer for shares in the “estatais,” a collection of state-owned companies that had never in their existence made a single penny of profit…they were essentially jobs programs for politicians to pay off loyal consituencies. Only one state-owned firm was exempted: Petrobras, the Brazilian oil company. Not coincidentally, it’s the only state-owned firm that’s ever shown a profit. So taxpayers got completely fleeced in the end. Killing the vermin who did it was off the table.
We’re becoming more like 1980s Brazil with each passing day.
Comment by The Sanity Inspector on 11/1 @ 4:09 pm #
But not to worry: income tax withholding will be phased out just as soon as World War Two ends.
Comment by Seth on 11/1 @ 4:13 pm #
Well, at least they think they’ll get it back come tax filing. It’s never too late to pass a law making it a retroactive tax increase. Oh yes, the political set really is that devious, and you can bet they’ll do it if they deem it “necessary”. Or hell, why not just default? Don’t rule these scenarios out, as the mere fact that they have taken this first step is proof enough of how utterly dire the situation really is.
My prediction: comming soon to a state near you!
Comment by SBP on 11/1 @ 4:25 pm #
#23: Hey, they repealed that phone surtax from the Spanish-American War.
Granted, it took until a couple of years ago to do it, but you must have a little patience.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 11/1 @ 4:58 pm #
Can you perform a citizens arrest on your own state legislature for outright theft?
Comment by Rusty on 11/1 @ 5:09 pm #
If no interest is being offered this may, in fact, be unconstitutional.
Comment by geoffb on 11/1 @ 5:28 pm #
Not in Barackyland. He’s a constitutional scholar/organizer, so he knows that there Constitution.
Comment by ghost707 on 11/1 @ 6:50 pm #
Wow.
Does the pilfered income still show up as earned income on their 401K’s or not?
If so – they are going to be taxed on income they did not receive.
I hope the residents realize they will never see that money again.
Next up: when a land owner becomes deceased, the land can not be passed on as inheritance,but automatically reverts back to state (or county) ownership.
I can almost see it now.
Comment by pdbuttons on 11/1 @ 7:35 pm #
all the leaves are brown
and the sky is gray
but my paycheck seems okay
Comment by Barrack H. Obama And His Minions on 11/1 @ 7:51 pm #
All your paychecks belong to us.
Comment by pdbuttons on 11/1 @ 8:02 pm #
take this job and love it
i’ll be working here all day [johnny paycheck)
Comment by newrouter on 11/1 @ 8:04 pm #
pw people please pull this from your homepage:
http://commons.pajamasmedia.com/js/pajamas.js” language=”javascript” type=”text/javascript”>
the page will load faster
Comment by pst314 on 11/1 @ 8:29 pm #
This legal robbery reminds of the endless scams that feudal lords would use to raise money. For instance, they had a monopoly on the milling of grain. The lord might measure unmilled grain with one size sack but return milled grain with a smaller sack. Or he could play games with how firmly grain was packed into a basket, whether it was filled to the brim, and so on.
Comment by pst314 on 11/1 @ 8:30 pm #
“this may, in fact, be unconstitutional.”
No. We have a “living constitution”, so the Constitution means whatever our lords and masters wish.
Comment by ghost707 on 11/1 @ 8:50 pm #
We all knew the Democrats are the slavery party, what with there inner-city plantations and high high high tax rates.
Now to further prove their intentions to return to the good old days of outright slavery – they just withhold wages.
It’s a win-win for them; now they have more than just the black population to enslave – they can do it to everyone.
At least they can say that they are multi-culti equal opportunity slave owners now.
What’s not to like?
Comment by ghost707 on 11/1 @ 9:00 pm #
Democrats: the Plantation Party.
Has a nice, truthful ring to it.
Comment by Wm T Sherman on 11/1 @ 9:00 pm #
Off topic: Who is PUK, and what happened regarding him recently?
Comment by Wm T Sherman on 11/1 @ 9:16 pm #
You may have heard that California was for a time this year issuing IOUs instead of payments to vendors, and for income tax refunds, pretty much any payment that the state did not have the cash on hand to cover. For a while, the state took the position that the IOUs were income, and therefore you owed tax on them even if you were unable to convert them to cash. Imagine being a vendor who got paid with IOUs, and the state and local governments demanding taxes on them. This is the mentality. Public outrage eventually forced tax to be deferred until the IOUs were converted to cash.
Karen Bass, Speaker of the House, “Ol’ Cabbage Head,” has consistently had only one solution for the revenue shortfall: raise taxes. No belt tightening. No cutbacks. Just raise taxes and keep handing the money over to fat-ass unionized state employees, keep pie-in-the-sky, feel-good social programs running full blast, keep the prison-industrial complex healthy and growing.
I realized one day that running a state is actually easier if you hate most of the people who live in it.
Comment by John Hitchcock on 11/2 @ 1:54 am #
I actually wrote about this on my site and cross-posted it on CSPT, where more info was added and lots of blowback was received. (If you’re interested in blowback.)
Comment by -Ed. on 11/2 @ 5:08 am #
Plunder seems the more appropriate word. Pillage and rape involve items other than your cash. I’m glad I don’t live in California anymore.
Comment by strayarts on 11/2 @ 6:36 am #
INCARCERATING PEOPLE “FOR PROFIT” IS IN A WORD….WRONG!
Even if one does not ask or pretends not to see the rope and the flashing red flag draped around the philosophical question standing solemnly at attention in the middle of the room, it remains apparent that the mere presence of a private “for profit” driven prison business in our country undermines the U.S Constitution and subsequently the credibility of the American criminal justice system. In fact, until all private prisons in America have been abolished and outlawed, “the promise” of fairness and justice at every level of this country’s judicial system will remain unattainable. We must restore the principles and the vacant promise of our judicial system. Our government cannot continue to “job-out” its obligation and neglect its duty to the individuals confined in the correctional and rehabilitation facilities throughout this nation, nor can it ignore the will of the people that it was designed to serve and protect. There is urgent need for the good people of this country to emerge from the shadows of indifference, apathy, cynicism, fear, and those other dark places that we migrate to when we are overwhelmed by frustration and the loss of hope.
My hope is that you will support the National Public Service Council to Abolish Private Prisons (NPSCTAPP) with a show of solidarity by signing “The Single Voice Petition”
http://www.petitiononline.com/gufree2/petition.html
Please visit our website for further information: http://www.npsctapp.blogspot.com
–Ahma Daeus
“Practicing Humanity Without A License”…
Comment by royf on 11/2 @ 7:33 am #
Who is PUK, and what happened regarding him recently?
Peter Bocking aka peterUK passed away. RIP a good man taken too soon. I only knew him through the internet but I know we would have been good friends, he had a great sense of humor and a biting wit.
Comment by BuddyPC on 11/2 @ 7:39 am #
23. #Comment by The Sanity Inspector on 11/1 @ 4:09 pm #
But not to worry: income tax withholding will be phased out just as soon as World War Two ends.
Also known as “cleaning up the mess Roosevelt started.”
Since we still have military presence in Germany, Italy, and Japan, looks like someones got loopholes to run through for a long time.
Chalk another one up for Heller.
Comment by LTC John on 11/2 @ 7:41 am #
TO our CA friends. Get out, if you can. Get out NOW. It will only get worse.
Comment by Wm T Sherman on 11/2 @ 9:01 am #
42. Comment by strayarts on 11/2 @ 6:36 am #
INCARCERATING PEOPLE “FOR PROFIT” IS IN A WORD….WRONG!
Even if one does not ask or pretends not to see the rope and the flashing red flag draped around the philosophical question standing solemnly at attention in the middle of the room, it remains apparent that the mere presence of a private “for profit” driven prison business in our country undermines the U.S Constitution and subsequently the credibility of the American criminal justice system.
—————————————————————————————————-
The California version of this is the powerful prison guards union, which has enormous lobbying power and is a force to be reckoned with in elections. They earn high pay, including hundreds of thousands of hours in overtime (at time and a half of course). They make their own rules, police themselves, and seek to expand the prison system at all costs. They support draconian laws that put more people in prison. It’s not private sector, but so what? It’s corrupt as hell.
Comment by Pontius' Pilot on 11/2 @ 1:34 pm #
Payin’ you back in inflated dollars – if at all.
Comment by Rusty on 11/3 @ 7:03 am #
#32
Hi buttons.
Comment by Pissed All the Way in NH on 11/5 @ 9:27 am #
Everyone in California should overwhelm their employees with new state tax witholding forms tremendously increasing their exemptions to at least offset the 10% tax increase (woops compulsory loan – what are they the mafia?). This should send a clear message to the politicians that they should be shot for their vulgar brazen behavior and not give them what they are after. Your required to live within your income. Why shouldn’t they.
What an incredible bunch of fools you have for politiciians. They are going to lower their tax revenue even less, becuase by stealing your money, they are going to lose the sales tax revenue they would have gotten from the Christmas season.
I can think of quite a few nicknames for these guys collectively – bad King John, the Grinch who stole Christmas. Actually, likening them to the mafia might even be a bit unkind to the mafia.