Taxes, Wasteful Spending and the State Budget

By Tom Harman

Here are some facts on the state budget situation:

• According to the Legislative Analyst, California faces a built-in deficit next year of $8 billion
• The budget shortfall the year after that will be an estimated $10 billion
• The projected deficit for the next five years approaches $50 billion
• State government spending has increased nearly 40% over the past three years of Governor Davis' term in office
• During the past fiscal year, the Democrat-proposed budget attempted to raise spending by more than $400 million
• During the past fiscal year, Democrats attempted to raise taxes by nearly $5 billion.

Thanks to efforts by Republicans in the State Assembly, we were able to reduce the governor's proposed budget shortfall of $24 billion to a "mere" $8 billion, and avoided raising taxes. But that's not good enough. We must do better, starting now.

California does not have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem. Californians are simply fed up with paying high taxes and seeing their hard-earned dollars wasted. So am I. That is why I have made fighting to protect California's taxpayers one of my highest priorities.