I like living in Irvine. It’s a great community, I have lots of friends, and I enjoy my home. But is the state so broken that no business can succeed here long-term?
It’s not that I’m upset with the budget fiasco in Sacramento. On the contrary, my sympathies lie with the Republicans who refuse to allow additional taxes. Indeed, I agree with them. We need to drastically cut taxes in California, and if we did so we would see a result that might shock the Democrats in Sacramento. We would see an increase in revenues. And if we coupled that with the major cuts in the bureaucracy in Sacramento there is no doubt in my mind that we’d see California quickly emerge from the recession.
Unfortunately, I doubt any of our leaders in Sacramento are forward-thinking enough to consider what I propose. In the end, I expect the budget crisis to be resolved by a sales tax increase of 0.5% to 1.0% coupled with a decrease in the rate of increase in California’s budget.
All of this has given me pause about myself and my business. I like it here, and I have significant ties to California, but there comes a time when enough is enough. We’re heading in that direction today.