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Attention shoppers: your taxes are going up
March 31st, 2009, 6:00 am · 26 Comments · posted by BRIAN JOSEPH, Sacramento Correspondent
It must be a coincidence, but the state sales tax will rise tomorrow, on April Fools’ Day.
Joke’s on us, huh?
As you might recall, the governor and state Legislature approved a “temporary” 1 percent increase of the state sales tax to help balance the budget. The 1-penny-on-the-dollar increase is expected to raise $5.8 billion through June of 2010.
The increase is scheduled to expire — that is, drop back down to current levels — in July 2011, unless voters approve Proposition 1A on the May 19 ballot, in which case the tax increase will continue until July 2012.
Whatever the case, the new taxes will increase the state’s base sales tax to 8.25 percent — the highest in the nation according to nonprofit Tax Foundation. And in fact, sales taxes are even higher in some regions because local governments in California are allow to levy up to an additional 1.5 percent in sales taxes.
The current sales tax in most Orange County cities is 7.75 percent.
So in other words, if you’ve got your eye on a big screen or new boat, head to the store now.
Because tomorrow the price will be no laughing matter.
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DENA BUNIS, Washington bureau chief, 202-628-6381 or dbunis@ocregister.com
BRIAN JOSEPH, Sacramento correspondent, 916-449-6046 or bjoseph@ocregister.com
JENNIFER MUIR, County government reporter, 714-796-7813 or jmuir@ocregister.com
JOEL WALSH, Washington bureau intern, 202-628-6381 or jwalsh@ocregister.com
MARTIN WISCKOL, Politics reporter, 714-285-2867 or mwisckol@ocregister.com twitter.com/MartinWisckol
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I would check the stats from the nonprofit Tax Foundation, Austin, TX is and has been at 8.25% for years and I know other cities are higher.
Thanks to Schwarzenegger. What is so funny here is that the people voted for Obama knowing he was going to raise taxes and he said this loud and clear that he was going to raise taxes, and no one seemed to care then. I cared though and I didn’t vote for Obama. Now Obama is now the President. My opinion is that Schwarzenegger took advise from Obama because people voted for Obama knowing that he was going to raise taxes so Schwarzenegger is doing the same. Good Luck People!
TEMPORARY in politics means, “gotcha”!
The Tax revolt is on……..
http://www.kfiam640.com/pages/johnandkenshow/index.html
Click to see tax protests happening this weekend in your area!
I am going to make all my major purchase online do to the tax increase.
Yeh, people are stupid. Can anyone be any more stupid than to vote for a tax increase?
ocmother: Obama did not raise the SALES TAX. This was done by the State Legislature AND the Governor. I might add that the proposal to increase sales tax in California was on the table prior to the Presidential election, try Jan 2008.
It’s time for the Revolt!! CA just got scewed. I am keeping my money and not buying big ticket purchases. HA!
I’m ebarrased to say that I voted for Schwarzeneger. Can’t stand the guy and he doesn’t even admit that he broke his campaign promises even when he has been played his actual verbal promises. How can he say he wasn’t lying when he voted to increase the car tax that he ran a campaign on to remove it? And the prop, what is it 1a to put spending caps is a total SHAM! Get Mr. Hollywood out NOW!
Cally Says:
March 31st, 2009 at 11:08 am
TEMPORARY in politics means, “gotcha”!
SPECTACULAR!!!
ocmother, you’re a moron. You’re blaming Obama for California’s problems now? California has been in this mess since before the recall. Remember, you morons voted for Arnie because Davis threatened to raise taxes and car registration. Now Arnie is just going to do what Davis didn’t do 10 years ago.
I love how all the pro Bush people used “He kept us safe since 9/11″ as a barometer for how good of a President Bush was. Obama has done the same thing for 60 days. People seem to forget that 9/11 happened under the deciders watch. Not Clintons, not Daddy Bush, not Regan.
Can a Bush supporter submit a list of his accomplishments, minus keeping us safe since 9/11?
Someone must be listening to much Rush. Unless you make over 250K, your taxes are going down very soon. If you make over that, your taxes are going up slightly. Generally, people who have higher incomes, have greater tax credits and deductions available to them. So the net result may be of little change. This is the “Make Work Pay” credit that employors are to be implementing in a few weeks. So a few more $$ in the pockets of working Americans. A small but possitive step.
ocmother is a kool aid drinker. Do you really think she knows the difference between sales taxes and income taxes? Not a chance because the talking heads she listens to do not get into that kind of detail. I bet ocmother has a poster of Ann Coulter in her house.
And Rush isn’t telling you that the INCOME TAX increase for THE TOP 1% is going from 33% to 36%. WHOA, EASY THERE COMMUNISM. Everyone else will see an increase in pay this Friday thanks to Obama. So, when you see that extra $40 on Friday, thank Obama before you spend that $40 on coffee for the day. Also, in the coming month and years, when you see road improvements and school budgets increasing, don’t forget to thank Obama for doing something that should’ve been done back in the 80’s.
You want to know Republican morals? Sarah Palin refused a portion of the stimulus money as a way of making a semi political protest. What you don’t know is that the money she turned down was scheduled to go to students with disabilities, like her son. So, a Republican is standing so firm on their beliefs that they would sacrifice something that would benefit their own child. Pathetic really.
johnadams Says:
People seem to forget that 9/11 happened under the deciders watch. Not Clintons, not Daddy Bush, not Regan.
You left out that the 9/11 attack was 7 years in the planning…those were during the Clinton years, yee with twisted facts. I would go as far as to say that preventing another 9/11 is a pretty big accomplishment for any President.
Smart Shopper 1. can’t spell: “…do to the tax increase.” You mean “Due to the tax increase.”
and 2. doesn’t realize that online does not exempt you from taxes if you are dealing with an honest, law-abiding seller.
Smart Shopper Says:
March 31st, 2009 at 11:19 am
I am going to make all my major purchase online do to the tax increase.
CAviaTX Says, Austin is not a state. ( I know if feels like that, I used to live there). Also, it makes sense that sales tax is higher, becuase there is no State Tax.
“Temporary” really means it will be permanent. There’s no way that the state will repeal it once they start getting used to having the extra money. Apparantly the politicians don’t understand basic economics. If things start costing more, people usually spend less. It has the opposite affect of what they are trying to accomplish.
No wonder this state is in the can. From reading these comments, I would conclude that the special ed classes got Cesar Chavez day off. Plain and simple, 90% of people are morons and vote for whoever promises the most, has the best hair, or looks nice.
Temporary meaning: This rate is the new rate until the next temporary increase.
tiredinOC,
Listening to talk show hosts are often not the problem. Believing politicians aren’t lying when you see their lips moving is.
You wrote…..
“Unless you make over 250K, your taxes are going down very soon.’
The National Taxpayers Union Foundation publishes income brackets by income levels.
Obama said the top 5% of folks are going to give their money to the government so he can give it to the bottom 95%.
The last figures I found noted that the top 5% category started at $153,500.00, not $250K. The top 1% started at $389K, and paid 40% of all income taxes.
Even during the campaign the “top 5″ number came down to $100K. We are all going to get slammed soon enough. We cannot run multi-trillion dollar deficits and not need every penny you make to pay the bill.
johnadams it will do no good to point out the hypocricies of the republic party, they will just blame Bill Clinton. This is why the tax increases are happening, they want top of the line fire equipment but dont want to fund it, they want good roads and other infrastructure but once again dont want to pay. I saw this morning on a little news story that the republic senator from Utah has more to say about having a playoff for the NCAA football championship than fixing our broken economy, its almost as if they are working harder on that issue than coming up with a plan to help right the country that they sent sideways.
johnadams - Give me a break. The Obama rose has lost it’s bloom - those independents who voted for him and his brand of “change” are feeling pretty stupid about now. Keep listening to NPR though….I’m sure the Palin bashing is alive and well to feed your liberal self-satisfaction. The rest of us have moved on to more relevant things, like surviving the wave of taxes that are about to affect our way of life.
But back to the topic at hand…..people, we’ve been screwed. It doesn’t matter if you are a republican or democrap. Your leaders have failed you for their own self interests. Increasing the sales tax and doubling the car tax is going to hurt a lot of people, and do absolutely nothing for the economy. Dig-in folks, this is going to be a while…
I just bought $400 dollars worth of goods at Home Depot today, so I could screw California out of the tax increase.
The more they raise taxes the less people buy and we will have the same budget problems next year.
No on 1A
Screw California. This tax is just another incentive for me to shop online.
What about two women named Marin and Carrie Lopez who cheated taxpayer’s money? There should be more taxpayer’s money cheaters…links nolaborstandards.blogspot.com nolaborstandards.blogspot.com/ - 111k - Similar pages
DLSE represents illegal aliens or undocumented workers, not American Taxpayers.
If you taxpayers who care, go to those links and check it out and rally to protest to the public.
Who got to blame? Whose administration?
Have fun all.