Too many taxes, especially today

Tom Harman

April 15 has come and is going: Tax day. As we struggle to make ends

meet, it is fitting to reflect upon just how much the government

takes out of our pocket each year in taxes.

Thanks to payroll deductions, most people cannot grasp how much

they are actually paying in taxes each year. An annual study by the

nonpartisan Tax Foundation notes that Californians do not begin to

take home any money until April 13. In other words, the nation’s

workforce spends the first four months of the year working for the

government. Californians deserve a break.

Don’t think your tax bill is fully paid once you complete your

1040 form. You are actually paying taxes from the moment you wake up

in the morning until the moment you fall asleep at night. Every day,

you pay taxes on the water to brush your teeth, the car you drive to

work, the long-distance phone call you place to your family, the

cable television programs you watch at night and the lights you use

to read before going to bed. Californians are over-taxed.

Family-owned businesses are struggling to keep their doors open,

having to pay huge increases in premiums for a flawed workers’

compensation system, having to comply with burdensome regulations,

and pay some of the country’s highest taxes just for the privilege of

conducting business in California.

Although taxpayers are also struggling to pay their tax bills,

some in Sacramento believe it’s not enough. A whole host of proposals

are being considered this year that would burden taxpayers even more

with higher income taxes, sales taxes, and user fees.

As a matter of principle, I believe it is better to spend less

than tax more. We have experienced record budget problems over the

past three years because of the poor fiscal management of the

majority party, not because taxpayers did not send in enough of their

hard-earned money to Uncle Sam.

We can start restoring fiscal order to California by prioritizing

the people’s interests over those of special interests. Assembly

Republicans have formed the Joint Republican Task Force on

Eliminating Government Waste to investigate ways to run state

government more efficiently. We’re holding a series of “Suggestion

Box Town Hall” forums across California to hear the people’s

common-sense ideas on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in state

spending.

The best way to force politicians in Sacramento to abandon their

wasteful ways is to make it harder to raise taxes on hard-working

families. Californians should not be forced to foot the bill for five

years of overspending.

Raising taxes is exactly the wrong approach to solve our budget

woes. Individuals know far better than Sacramento how their money

should be spent and we should allow them the extra income to invest

in the California economy.

As we mark another year of over-taxation, let the message be

clear: Californians need a break.

* EDITORS’ NOTE: Tom Harman represents the 67th Assembly District,

which includes Huntington Beach.