The joy of being a Californian. The gas stations at Culver and Walnut in Irvine are having a price war—they’re seeing which station can reach $3.60 for a gallon of regular first. And if the Democrats in California’s Assembly have their way we’ll be paying even more.
Assemblyman Anthony Adams (R-Claremont) reports on the Flash Blog that Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) wants to add a 6% tax on all oil from California and a 2% surcharge on oil companies that earn more than $10 million.
I wonder if Speaker Nunez has interests in office building in Nevada, Arizona, and Oregon. Why am I asking this? Because if I were running an oil company and I was faced with a gross profits tax I’d relocate as much as my business as possible out of California and into neighboring states.
And does Mr. Nunez understand basic economics? What does a tax do? It increases the price of a good or service. When a business is taxed it always passes the cost of the tax onto its customers. If this tax increase passes Californians will see a 2% to 10% increase on the prices of products from oil companies. That’s economic reality.
While the goal of Mr. Nunez’s proposal is laudable (the money would be used for education), I agree with Assemblyman Adams. “I guess the $60 Billion plus a year we spend on education isn’t getting the job done. Here’s a thought: Give the school districts back the money we already take instead of tying it up in countless layers of State bureaucracy and ridiculous ‘one-size-fits-all’ testing standards that force every teacher to teach to the test.”
California needs fundamental reforms in the bureaucracy. It may be painful, but the time has come to seriously confront the bloated workforce of government workers in this state. It’s time for limited government, and it appears that at least some in California’s legislature understand that. Unfortunately, Assembly Speaker Nunez doesn’t.