This was put in the Contra Costa Times several weeks ago as a guest commentary by Ken Hambrick and is a copied and pasted here to allows the patch readers exposures to the main issues that I support:
NO ON MEASURES A and B. NO NEW TAXES.
QUOATE Ben Franklin said, "Nothing is certain except death and taxes." In 2012, Jerry Brown conned us into approving $30 billion in tax increases, claiming these increases will only last for four or five years. So much for tax increases that have a so-called "sunset" clause. I can't name any tax that went away once it was instituted.
Currently, California has the nation's highest statutory sales tax. California also has the nation's highest gasoline tax. For personal income-tax rates, California has the nation's highest top bracket: 13.3 percent.
The economy is still in turmoil. Unemployment is still high. People are still struggling with mortgages and the high cost of living. Yet the politicians seem to believe they can keep coming to the taxpayer well for more money in Measures A and B.
Howard Jarvis said, "While death and taxes may be inevitable, being taxed to death is not."
We don't have to be taxed to death. We pay more than we should already because of poor financial management and unconscionable giveaways such as outrageous salaries and benefits to their employees by public agencies.
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Let's change 2014 from the "Year of the Taxes" to the "Year of No New Taxes." It's time for us to stand up and tell the politicians no, to live within their current revenue and to find new efficiencies, not new taxes, to balance their budgets. QUOATE