Did you know every day is Tax Day?

TOM HARMAN

As April 15 approaches, I’m reminded of the old saying about the

inevitability of death and taxes.

Many in the state Legislature are considering adding a new twist

by actually creating two new taxes on the dead. They have proposed a

tax on funeral services and a change in property-transfer laws to

increase the tax when a person dies and leaves property to heirs.

Those are just two items on a laundry list of taxes that the Tax

Committee chairman, Assemblyman Johan Klehs, has assembled.

Appropriately enough, the list even includes a tax hike on laundry

services.

The list also includes a sales tax increase, an increase in the

personal income tax, an increase in corporate tax rates and a tax on

every ticket you buy for a movie, a concert or a sporting event.

If the taxers had their way, every day would be Tax Day!

In reality, that’s already the case. April 15 may be the official

deadline for turning in income taxes, but we pay other taxes each and

every day of the year.

When you turn on a light in the morning, you pay an electricity

tax. When you call a family member, you pay a telephone tax. Buy a

shirt, and you pay sales tax. Purchase a car, and pay the car tax,

and then pay the gas tax when you stop for fuel.

It never ends. The state collects a tire-disposal tax, a hotel

tax, an airport tax and many others. It’s enough to drive a person to

drink -- but then you’d pay the alcohol tax too.

Some legislators are trying to sneak still more taxes into the

state budget under the euphemism of “revenue options.” They hope this

Orwellian language will fool you into supporting their schemes.

If the tax-and-spenders think this strategy will work, they’re

only fooling themselves. It’s well known that Californians don’t want

to give more money to the insatiable state bureaucracy.

Mainstream Californians, especially hard-working families who bear

the burden of paying for most government spending, agree that we need

a budget with no new taxes. That’s why voters rejected 20 local tax

increases during last month’s elections.

Even without tax rate increases, state revenue will increase by $5

billion this year. Lawmakers who can’t balance a budget with $5

billion in new revenue just aren’t trying hard enough.

I am prepared to do the hard work needed to fix what remains of

the Gray Davis budget mess without putting the squeeze on taxpayers.

I’m standing firm with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in opposition to

tax hikes.

As the governor frequently reminds Californians, economic growth

is the key to fixing the budget, and tax increases would only impede

this growth.

There’s no better time than Tax Day to reflect on the simple truth

that the state has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

* ASSEMBLYMAN TOM HARMAN represents the 67th Assembly District,

which includes the communities of Cypress, Los Alamitos, La Palma,

Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, and portions of Stanton, Westminster,

Garden Grove and Anaheim. To contribute to “Sounding Off” e-mail us

at [email protected] or fax us at (714) 966-4667.