A Most Worthy Pledge by California Lawmakers

Many politicians don’t like to take clear stands. So, when a large group does just that, it’s well worth noting. And when that pledge is a positive one for the economy and taxpayers – including small businesses – it warrants appreciation and praise.

That is the case with every Republican state lawmaker – except one – in the state of California.

Consider the following from an August 28 article in the Sacramento Bee:

Don't read their lips when California's Republican lawmakers say 'no new taxes' – they've put it in writing, signed their names, essentially inviting their own party to oust them if they renege.
Every GOP lawmaker except Fair Oaks Assemblyman Roger Niello has signed the "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" this year, casting a shadow on budget talks by making any vote to raise taxes a potential career killer.

"If you break the pledge, the people who voted for you will say, 'Excuse me, not only did you raise my taxes but you lied to me,' " said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, in Washington, D.C., which conducts the pledge drive nationwide.

The tax pledge, whose signers are publicized on the group's Web site, is a written promise to voters that "I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes."

Too bad Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn’t made the same pledge. As reported by the Sacrament Bee: “Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has not signed the tax pledge, rocked GOP ranks this month by proposing a 1-cent sales tax increase for three years, which then would drop permanently to a quarter-cent below the current rate. Norquist said the proposal, touted by supporters as a long-term cut, would violate the anti-tax pledge because its goal is to create an immediate increase of $4 billion in state revenues. ‘Nobody believes for 30 seconds that the tax cut really happens,’ he said.”

Norquist, of course, is absolutely correct.

When states fall into budget messes, the source of the problem must be identified in order to find the proper remedy. In California, it’s long been about too much spending. It has nothing to do with too little revenue. Raising taxes will only make California’s already hostile tax and regulatory climate only worse. At one time, Governor Schwarzenegger seemed to understand this fiscal fact.

Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council