California residents, who haven’t elected even a faux-Republican like Arnold Schwarzenegger to statewide office since 2006, say they’re sick of the high taxes they keep voting for.
The numbers are overwhelming — shockingly so — for a one-party “progressive” state like California.
The Los Angeles Times soft-sold its own poll with this headline: “Taxes too high? A lot of Californians think so.”
That headline could have been a contender for Michael Kinsley’s ’80s vintage Boring Headline Contest. The leading example he gave was “Worthwhile Canadian Initiative.”
Or at least … a lot of Californians think so.
Yawn.
But the UC Berkeley/Times poll found a whole lot more than “a lot” of Californians who think they’re paying more than their fair share.
A third would be “a lot” in a state of 37 million people.
Half would be “a whole lot” in a state that big.
But that’s not how many tax-cutters UC Berkeley/Times found.
According to the study, nearly two-thirds of Californians thought their taxes, state and federal, were too high.
Two-thirds. That’s a massive and overwhelming majority.
The breakdown doesn’t look much better for tax-and-spending-happy California Democrats:
Concern about taxes is much more common among conservatives than liberals. In the current survey, 83% of Republicans, compared with 54% of Democrats and 66% of nonpartisan voters, said they thought their families paid too much in taxes. The rest mostly said the levy was “about right.” Almost no one says they should be paying more.
You’d expect California Republicans — I assume, based on the poll, that they haven’t yet been driven to extinction — to think that taxes are too high.
But 54% of Democrats agree with those nasty, regressive conservatives?
Oh my.
Recommended: What’s Really Going on With CNN+?
Don’t get too excited about California leading a new tax revolt, however.
“Given a list of major issues facing the state and asked to name two that were most urgent,” the report says, “only 15% of voters picked taxes, putting the topic in the middle of the pack.”
Let me tell you what’s funny about that. Funny, if like myself, your sense of humor tends towards cruelty towards preening morons and other varieties of leftists.
What did concern Californians?
Housing affordability topped the list, cited by 31% of voters, followed by homelessness; crime and public safety; gasoline prices; and climate change and the environment.
Housing affordability is directly impacted by zoning laws that have been used by politicians for years to limit new construction.
Taxes are supposed to pay for police and public safety, but California has led the nation these last two years in going soft on crime.
California’s painful gas prices are so high because of taxes and regulations.
And you can’t “save” the climate without paying through the nose for pricey green energy boondoggles.
What’s genuinely frustrating for outside observers like myself is the low value that Californians get for the high taxes. The filthy streets and highways of Los Angeles, the filth and disorder of San Francisco, the rising crime everywhere…
…California government, state and local, fails at the most basic jobs — the ones that government is actually supposed to do.
Californians can fix the mess they made but only if they’re willing to do the unthinkable: Stop electing Democrats all the time.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member