Phone tax con job by Los Angeles city council and mayor
This doesn't affect me directly, but it should make the election in February interesting for those who live within the Los Angeles city limits,
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_7066574
From what I've heard about this on the radio, the mayor and council have already received results from one or more focus groups. They plan to "sell" this as a tax reduction if you vote "yes," which is true: the tax will be reduced to 9% from 10%. What they don't tell you is if you vote "no," the tax will be reduced to zero percent! And the mayor and council will then have to scramble to find the revenues they lose from this scam somewhere else! According to the link, that would be roughly $270 million annually.
If I lived within the city limits, I'd vote "no" as simple revenge for being told my trash collection fees had to be raised in order to pay for more police officers...only to find the city council had stolen a portion of the increase for a different purpose!
Re: Phone tax con job by Los Angeles city council and mayor
^^^ a perfect testament to 'stealth' taxes (I bet if you look closely you'll find a similar 'stealth' tax applies to electricity bills / cable bills etc !), in combination with clever but highly misleading mainstream media presentations of the 'facts'.
The problem for local politicians where the abolition of 'stealth' taxes are concerned is ... where can they find substitute tax revenue, and on what segment of the local population will this new substitute tax burden fall the hardest. Obviously an increase in local sales taxes is an easy option ... but one which is very visible to 'poor' city residents. Also an increase in local property taxes is an easy option as well ... but one which is very visible to 'very rich' city residents (the type of city residents that typically contribute big bucks to local politician's re-election campaigns). Of course there is also the remote possibility that local politicians could vote to ***gasp*** cut gov't spending levels so that they woundn't NEED substitute tax revenue ! But this of course pisses off the unions (both CSEA and contractor), which can be highly dangerous in an election year.
Well, the west coast could follow the east coast example and institute a city income tax - which wouldn't affect the 'poor', which could be avoided by the 'very rich' via the use of tax shelters and asset transfers, which wouldn't affect the unions, and which only screws the hard working middle class. But hey what does that matter if the 'poor' plus the 'very rich' plus the 'union members' constitute 51% of registered city voters ?
Re: Phone tax con job by Los Angeles city council and mayor
*gasp* No! You mean Tony Villar isn't an honest, virtuous representative of the people?! :faint:
I am shocked, I tell you. Well and truly shocked. I don't know if I can go on.
Re: Phone tax con job by Los Angeles city council and mayor
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Yekhefah
*gasp* No! You mean Tony Villar isn't an honest, virtuous representative of the people?! :faint: ...
I didn't know this until hearing one of the AM hosts this morning, but the mayor is declaring this an emergency. That way, it only takes 50% of the voters voting in the affirmative instead of the otherwise required 2/3 of the voters.
Gee, I wonder why politicians complain about the general public being cynical about politicians.
Re: Phone tax con job by Los Angeles city council and mayor
Only three more months until I move out of L.A.!! :dance: