by Jack Lee
This is a story of fiscal neglect, mismanagement, waste, fraud, abuse and incompetence. Look, if you’re already having a bad day, take some advice from the author, just don’t even bother going here, it’s really awful news.
The following started out with just one question, “Who pays the most state taxes of all the states in the USA?” Then one thing led to another and before you know it I’ve got a state performance assessment done! The internet is such a beautiful thing!
And now the question not everyone wants to know, the most taxed state in America is (drum roll please). . . California!
(Did you ever have any doubt?)
Yes, boys and girls, it turns out we are number one when it comes to wearing the heaviest yoke. But, the indignity doesnt stop there, (I’ve mentioned this one before) our legislators are paid more here than anywhere else too. For all this creative taxing and brilliant spending… we’ve got the best schools money can buy, the bestest highways, the lowest low in crime and… uh, wha… NO!?
Elected officials must be doing a great job, after all you keep re-electing 92% of incumbents on average, so says the FPPC who tracks such things.
Hmmm…ok, let’s really see what kind of job these legislators are doing to earn their big pay: Well, for starters California ranks 5th in violent crime according to one older study, I couldn’t locate this years stats, but I’ll bet we’re still in the top 10. And that’s not very good considering we spend about 13 billion a year on our criminal justice programs, this includes $9.7 billion for housing 171,000 inmates at the Marriott, just kidding, the Marriott would be cheaper. That big taxpayer tab breaks down to roughly $76,000 a year spent per inmate each and every year, including court costs. Crime marches onward and upward…not much bang for our buck is there?
Public Safety: In 1960 the state had a population of 15,717,204 and there were 616 homicides and by 2007 we had a population of 36,553,213 and there were 2,260 homicides, a 62% er capita rise. Now check this, back in 1960 there were 15,287 armed robberies and in 2007 this number rose to over 70,500! That’s a 100% per capita increase. Violent crime in general, it is up 91% (again, adjusted per capita). Who thinks this is a good trend? I’ve got a lot more crime stats I could toss out here that are just as bad, but you get the point. Clearly the our police and our prisons have not been given the tools they need to protect the public. The legislature has failed them and failed us. Can there be any other conclusion?
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Posted by Tina