Taxes, Taxes, Taxes…
The California ‘sunshine’ tax has struck yet again.
Sales taxes in our area rose to 8.25 percent last year despite pleas for help. I struggled with the hike but now… I’m furious.
Arnold Schwarzenegger added another 1 percent to our sales tax. Some cities decided to add to this new number.
Our current sales tax rate?
9.75%
Added to our already $150 monthly property tax hike, I feel squeezed. We have reduced the amount we can pay on our credit card and now we have to reduce it again thanks to the recent tax hikes. Our local government agencies have suffered huge reductions in funding (some funding has been removed completely) and I can’t help but wonder… where is my money going?!?!?
Schwarzenegger has said that the economy has reduced the amount the state is making but…
I’m paying more than I ever have and making less than I’ve made in 5 years. How does this make sense? When all is added, I’m paying more than 30% of my salary to Washington DC and Sacramento.
Has anyone else noticed an added struggle thanks to tax hikes?!?
Posted: April 6th, 2009 under Life in General, home ownership.
Comments: 13
Comments
Comment from greyroma
Time: April 6, 2009, 8:49 am
I work for La Petite-a daycare with locations nationwide including California. We are in Oklahoma where the economy is still pretty good but we were told we would not be getting raises this year and they are taking a week of our vacation due in part to the fact that things are so bad in California ie, the government is almost bankrupt and can’t pay DHS daycare fees for the low income. So whether this is true or not it is affecting all of us in some way.
Comment from Lynn
Time: April 6, 2009, 9:25 am
I work in NYC and we were just talking about how they will probably raise the sales tax rate due to lack of funds – currently 8.375% it is a bargain compared to CA! Wow, I was upset last year when NJ raised its tax rate to 7% (I live in NJ). At least I can escape the higher sales tax rate by buying things in NJ. If NJ raised their sales tax to 9.75% I would have to move. I can’t even imagine. I am just not sure how they expect the economy to recover when they raise all these taxes. It boggles my mind.
Comment from Jay Gatsby
Time: April 6, 2009, 10:07 am
California is hurting because of fiscal irresponsibility. It’s really that simple.
Comment from kdmoffett25
Time: April 6, 2009, 11:20 am
Our tax rate in Memphis, TN is 9.25%… ours stink compared to Cal. It is less, but we are supposedly a lower cost of living area compared to there… WOW!
Comment from Leslie
Time: April 6, 2009, 3:10 pm
Seriously…how can anyone afford to live in California?
Comment from newcastle
Time: April 6, 2009, 8:46 pm
Um, yeah the sales tax might be high in TN, but at least you don’t have state income tax.
Comment from MonkeyMama
Time: April 7, 2009, 6:52 am
All of California is not that expensive though.
I just commented the other day the taxes weren’t getting me down since it is a more progressively taxed state. The sales tax doesn’t mean much because we don’t consume much (grocery and services – mostly not taxed). Property taxes can not legally rise more than 2% per year. I am lost why yours went up so much. Our income taxes are going up something like $10, annually. I’ll be surprised if we pay more than 1% of our income to state income taxes in 2009. So I am personally not feeling a lot of squeeze.
The higher incomes? Squeezed INDEED. It’s a lot of “too little too late” if you ask me. Even though it affects us little, the whole thing is ludicrous. Raise every tax you can think of in the worst economy in decades? But refuse to do any long-term financial planning in flush times??? Great going, state of California! Considering we neighbor a bunch of income-tax-free and sales-tax-free states, that the wealthy constantly flee to, you do wonder if anyone looks at the big picture. I wouldn’t be surprised if the state’s revenues decrease with all the new taxes. Just saying…
Comment from Nicole
Time: April 7, 2009, 4:36 pm
I always brag about the weather to my relatives in the midwest. I like to make them feel better though by telling them, we pay for it:)
Comment from Adriel
Time: April 8, 2009, 11:07 pm
In top of that, we got inflation that has been depreciating the dollar since 1971, Obama printing loads of money (bailouts/debt = stealth tax for gov) while Bush borrowed more than all previous presidents combined… all this debt and money printing is just accelerating the depreciation of the dollar. $1.25 in the year 2008 has the same “purchase power” as $1 in the year 2000.
Comment from Lizzie
Time: April 16, 2009, 1:48 pm
I must say, California is beautiful, but you definitely pay for it. Sorry!!
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