Beginning next week, workers can expect to see smaller paychecks as the state government increases the amount of income taxes it withholds.

The reason is legislation passed last summer – largely unnoticed – that increases the amount of income tax withheld each pay period, though it does not change how much an employee will owe for the year.

The change amounts to a 10% increase from what was previously paid, meaning if a person owed the state $1,000 last year, the state’s Franchise Tax Board will up that to $1,100, adjusting the rate at which the money is extracted beginning Nov. 1.

For workers who make $500 each week, or $12.50 per hour, the change amounts to $1 each week, while people who earn $2,000 per week will see a difference of approximately $14.

State Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, and Assemblyman Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, both voted against the bill, but because no actual tax increases were involved, it passed on a simple majority in both the Assembly (46-33) and the Senate (22-16).

“You’re hard-pressed to not call this a tax increase when the reality is these individuals are going to live with less than they did before,” Runner said.

Because the tax rates have not changed, workers will be owed the money come April, but Runner said he is not convinced the state will repay the entire sum in a timely manner.

“There is no guarantee,” he said. “The best people can do is adjust their withholding so that it equals what they will owe.”

Runner said the bill was strongly opposed and was among others that slipped under the radar in July as lawmakers worked feverishly to meet budget requirements.

“It’s one of those issues that was on the list of items but didn’t have a direct impact at the time, and it was never listed as a tax increase,” he said. “It’s really just borrowing without asking permission, nor paying interest.”

Runner said the one-time claim attached to the bill does not make it excusable.

“My view is if the majority of legislators are willing to do this once, they will continue to do it in order to facilitate their spending habits,” he said.

Californians Against New Taxes:

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association:

Think about how far we have strayed from what Jefferson called the “sum of good government.” He described it as (quote) “a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”

Somewhere along the line we lost that government. Isn’t it time that we got it back?

Our opponents seek to portray us as angry taxpayers. No, we are not angry taxpayers. We are resolute Americans. And today, we here highly resolve that the liberties defended on far-off battlefields by ten generations of American patriots and heroes will not be casually thrown away here at home – not on our generation’s watch.

We are here because we, as a people, are awakening to the danger of a government that spends too much and borrows too much and taxes too much, because we know what that means.

We know that you can’t spend your way rich.

We know that you can’t borrow your way out of debt.

And we know that you can’t tax your way to prosperity.

No nation in the history of the world has ever spent, borrowed and taxed its way to economic health. Not one. But history gives us many examples of nations that have spent, borrowed and taxed their way to economic ruin and bankruptcy.

We Californians already know where these policies lead, because under a tragic succession of governors, we have watched them turn our once Golden State into an economic basket case.

We watched as they increased spending at unsustainable rates; as they ran up unprecedented debts; and as they imposed crushing new taxes.

Today in California, run-away government spending has impoverished our economy; interest costs are eating our budget alive; and our tax burden is producing one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.

We have the highest income tax in the nation. Next door, Nevada has NO INCOME TAX, and yet California just increased our income tax yet again. We pay the highest sales tax in the nation. Next door, Oregon has NO SALES TAX. And yet, California once again has increased the sales tax by 13 percent. And they have just doubled our car tax.

And yet, despite record levels of taxes and record levels of borrowing, this government still can’t manage to provide a decent road system or educate our kids or protect our families from predators.

The $13 billion tax increase that they just forced on our families is the biggest tax increase by any state government in our nation’s history.

And we remember what happened the last time they did this. We remember what happened when Pete Wilson imposed a $7 billion tax increase. While the national economy expanded, Wilson’s tax increases broke the back of California’s economy; they produced the biggest plunge in retail sales in 30 years and then produced two consecutive years of billion-dollar-a-year declines in state revenues while the rest of the nation prospered.

That was a $7 billion tax increase. Can you imagine what a $13 billion tax increase will do in the most difficult recession in a generation?

Well, we’re about to find out.

The Census Bureau tells us that an unprecedented number of Californians are now fleeing to the 49 other states. But if we allow these same policies to destroy our country, where will we go?

President Obama’s budget relies on the biggest tax increase by the federal government in our nation’s history: back-breaking new taxes on small businesses, on investment, on energy production and on charitable giving.

This is not complicated stuff. If you increase taxes on productivity you get less productivity. If you increase taxes on energy production you get less energy. If you increase taxes on charitable giving, you get less charity. If you increase taxes on investment you get fewer jobs.

Obama’s budget would double the national debt in five years and triple it in ten.

Let me repeat that. All of the debt that our nation has accumulated from the first day of the George Washington Administration to the last day of the George Bush administration – will literally be doubled in the next five years and tripled in the next ten if Obama and Pelosi and Reid prevail.

We’ve watched how too much spending, too much borrowing and too much taxing has wrecked our state of California. We are now watching it threaten to ruin our country. And we have had enough.

Our opponents expect that we will vent our frustrations today and then go home. They expect that we’re going to grudgingly cut our family budgets by another $1,300 a year to pay for Schwarzenegger’s new taxes. They expect later this year, we’ll cut our family budgets by another $1,500 to pay for Obama’s new taxes. And that’ll be the end of it.

I’ve got news for them. This is just the beginning.

When we go home today, we’re going home to organize…

We need to write letters to the editor, post blogs on the Internet, make entries on facebook and myspace. We need to twitter and call in to radio shows and stand up at public meetings and be sure that every voter understands that … “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.”

We’re going to agitate and agitate and agitate everywhere we can in every forum we can find – every single one of us. This is a fight that every one of us is in and where every one of us can make a difference…

And whenever we get tired or discouraged, we’re going to remember what the American Founders first pledged in defense of our freedoms when they signed the Declaration of Independence. You remember their words: they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. And they meant it.

Every one of them faced the gallows, but they signed anyway. Every one of them faced losing everything they owned – but they signed anyway.

Think about how little history demands of our generation in defense of those very same freedoms. We are not asked to give our lives – only a portion of our time until we have set things right. We are not asked to give our fortunes – just a portion of our resources to support the … causes that will restore our freedoms.

But our sacred honor – history does expect that of us in full – that we will focus our time and our resources and not slacken or tire until we have retrieved our liberty, restored it and passed it on inviolate to our children. Because ladies and gentlemen, if we fail that test, what history will demand of our children and grandchildren is unthinkable.

When Abraham Lincoln made his way to Washington, his train stopped in a little town in Ohio and he spoke these words to the folks who gathered there that day.

If he were here today, I think he would have said exactly the same.

He said, “I appeal to you, my fellow citizens, constantly to bear in mind that not with the president, not with the office-holders, but with YOU is the question, ‘Shall the liberties of our nation be preserved to the latest generation?”

[Reprinted with permission of Congressman Tom McClintock]

Along with several of my colleagues, I spoke out against Prop 1A, the measure that will extend the recent $16 billion annual tax increases by two years. It is exactly these types of public protests that will lead to the failure of Prop. 1A in May and bring more awareness to the onerous tax-and-spend mentality that prevails in Sacramento.

As I stated at the rally, Taxation is an attack on freedom; you have fewer choices in life when you have less money.

Read more about the rally here.

Rallies will be held throughout Californian on April 15, tax day. To find out about a rally near you, click here.

Americans of all political affiliations are getting tired of the behavior of our government.

While bailing out the irresponsible parties, the government is pushing hard-working Americans to the brink of another revolution.  As the government works to redistribute wealth, we Americans work more for less – and the government takes more and more.

On April 15th, taxpayers will rally on the South Steps of the State Capitol to say that we are already taxed to the max and we will not pay even higher taxes to finance reckless out of control spending.

Americans for Prosperity will bring their giant inflatable “Already Taxed to the Max!” (ATM) machine.  We will have bumper stickers and rally signs for you if you do not bring a sign of your own.  Expect radio talk show host Eric Hogue to be at the event as well as taxpayer advocate Senator George Runner.

Let’s send a message to the Sacramento establishment: Enough is enough!

Where:
California State Capitol, South Steps

When:
Wednesday, April 15th – Tax Day
Welcome at 11:00 am
Rally from 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Website:
www.sacteaparty.com

www.hjta.org

www.taxdayteaparty.com

Voters need to wise up and see through the deceiving political rhetoric being heaped onto the airwaves, newspaper, and internet.  If Proposition 1A is approved in the coming Special Election in May, taxpayers will be stuck with the $13 billion in tax increases for an additional two years.  Like the prolonged recession in the 1990’s, which was directly caused by tax increases, Californians will be subject to more economic woes following this latest round of tax hikes.

If voters pass this Prop 1A, the average California family of four, struggling to make ends meet with an income of $70,000, will pay an additional $1,000 in new taxes annually.  Families will pay $200 more per year per child, nearly twice as much per car for the car tax, a 13% increase in the sales tax, and higher income taxes across the board.

Tax and spend politicians in the Legislatures characterize each of these taxes as a small increase, but as you can plainly see, all of these “small” taxes add up to a huge burden for most Californians.  Keep in mind these taxes are separate from the looming increases planned by President Obama.

This means less money for your family and more money for government bureaucrats and the public employee unions who represent them.  California’s hardworking families are being asked to make sacrifices by cutting back on basic necessities—groceries, gasoline, heating, and electricity—while government will be as fat as ever during this time of recession.

In fact, despite the supposed “deep cuts” and hiring freezes put into place, California’s government has actually increased in size!  So much for the threat that California would fall off the edge of a cliff without new taxes.  This bait and switch is not only outrageous but insulting to Californians, who were told that state government was on the verge of collapse when in fact it was expanding.

People are losing their homes and their jobs as life savings rapidly shrink.  The $1,000 being sent to Sacramento could go a long way in helping families get through the economic downturn.  But if the Democrats and their Republican enablers have their way, the daily struggles of average Californians will only get worse.  It’s time to hold the government accountable and demand that lawmakers cut the state’s budget before cutting into yours.

I am not surprised; liberal Legislators never saw a tax they didn’t like – and universal health care comes with a whopping price tag: $210 billion in its first full year of implementation and annual shortfalls of $42 billion thereafter. That’s billions, not millions. 

It’s one thing for a legislator to carry-on a failed idea year after year when the analysis shows the legislative idea to be difficult. But when the non-partisan Legislative Analyst Office reports legislation like universal health care to be impossible to fund, you would think the idea would be dropped or greatly revised.

But not my liberal colleagues in the Legislature; they are OK with continuing to push legislation that will greatly further the burdens ofCalifornia taxpayers; they’re fine with turning California into a Socialized medicine state and completely devastating the state’s health care industry.

And even is financial impossibilities weren’t an issue of universal health care, let’s not forget our Canadian neighbors whose health care crisis worsened when socialized medicine became the law of the land.

What Canada (and other countries that practice socialized medicine) did not solve is the biggest health care problem: Access.

Just because every citizen has a government provided health care card does not mean he or she has access to medical help when they need it. Canadians wait months and months before receiving routine treatment. Some die in the process of waiting.

Now Canadians regularly cross the border seeking medical care; not the other way around. Because the one thing America still has, regardless to our health care shortcomings, is relatively decent access to health care. Our system is not perfect, and we need to make improvements to create more access in California like diverting a portion of government hospital money to build more community clinics; giving doctors monetary incentives to practice in inner cities and rural communities; and allowing out-of-state insurers to do business in California. But the one thing we do not need is socialized medicine.

What’s most outrageous about the situation is that the authors of the ballot argument in favor of Prop 1A are attempting to hoodwink voters into extending the largest tax increases in state history under the guise of budget “reform.”  Rather than being honest with Californians, the official ballot summary will omit $16 billion in higher taxes and only mention the spending cap portion of this measure.

Don’t get me wrong—I am supportive of a spending cap, and believe it is good policy to reign in spending.  But under the current deal, which includes a two year extension of the tax increases, the price for this cap is too high.

I understand why Sacramento spendthrifts are afraid to reveal the truth to voters—these taxes would affect every Californian in very real ways.  Sometimes the truth is painful.

Prop 1A would increase statewide sales taxes from 7.25% to 8.25%, almost a 14% increase.  In Los Angeles County, this would raise the sales taxes to a staggering ten cents for every dollar they spend.  This is certainly not the proper incentive to jump start consumer spending during an ailing economy.

Income taxes will increase by a quarter of a percent while child tax credits will decrease from $400 dollars to $100 dollars, essentially a $300 per child tax increase.  These taxes will hit families the hardest, making it even more difficult to raise a family in California.

Finally, Prop 1A would nearly double the much despised Car Tax, or vehicle license fee. The average family would pay an additional $130, or about a week and a half of groceries.  Ironically, the Governor signed a budget raising the Car Tax that he first campaigned to repeal.

The best spending cap would have been Republican legislators refusing to vote for tax increases and using their 2/3 vote to restrain spending.  Any meaningful spending limit on the ballot will always get defeated by the special interests or will come at too high a price—like Prop 1A.

The taxes to sustain this spending will take $16 billion out of the economy—which means fewer consumer purchases, less investment, and no job creation.  While California government takes more of your money, the hardships of the average citizen will be prolonged as the economic growth and expansion will be stunted by taxes.  This is the most consequential tax policy change in decades, and Democrats and their Republican accomplices want to make sure you do not know about it.

George Runner is a member of the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee. He supports legislation and policies that protect taxpayers and hold government accountable. He represents California’s 17th Senate District, which includes the High Desert of Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties and sections of Ventura County. Visit his website at: http://republican.sen.ca.gov/web/17

For informational purposes only. Calculated estimates may not reflect your exact tax increase due to your individual circumstances and deductions that may be beyond the scope of this calculator.

Assumptions: Assumes 2.21% of personal income will be spent on sales taxes, up from current rate of 1.945%. Assumes a 0.25% income tax rate increase over the previous tax rate that was calculated under the Franchise Tax Board formula on page 6 of this document and assumes taxpayer takes one standard deducation. Assumes vehicle license fee increases from 0.65% to 1.15% of car’s value. Assumes each dependent tax credit reduced by $210.