How Would You Balance the State Budget?

Think you can do a better job of balancing California's multi-billion dollar budget than state lawmakers? Here's your chance.

[afarmer]

No new taxes or fees.........All they have to do is do away with the stupid programs that they have created. The only reason they have created them is because they have been bought off by special interests.

[sue]

To balance the budget I would start at the top instead of taking away from the poor and retired. Have the legislature and congress take a 10% cut, and take away a lot of the extras they have such as per diem even when they are not working. Take away the yacht tax deduction even if they are out of the country for 12 months---this is ridiculous. Make sure the top manangers employed by the state are working. Reduce the police and fire fighters retirement, its not fair many of them are retiring at 110% of their working pay, no wonder we are broke---they are retired no longer working at a high risk job, why should they get more than when they were working.

[Fifth Generation]

Nor did I notice, in that list, the option of ROLLING BACK the RAISE those so-called Legislators had recently voted themselves. Roll it back five years!!

THAT is where I would START.

[RL_in_CowTown]

Legalize drugs in California and then tax the hell out of it.

[Karissa]

Make pot legal, that would save 1.2 billion right there alone. Ship pregnant illegal aliens back to Mexico so they can give birth outside the United States, 200 million saved. Raise taxes on alcohol sales, just like tobacco sales, huge revenue creator.

[Living in Oakdale]

1.cut welfare from everyone who has been on it for longer than 2 yrs. period

2.Legalize pot and tax the hell out of it. Like they do for tobacco.

3. If you are not here legally the state does not pay for you to have a baby.

[Dave]

Legalize and tax drugs and prostitution. Why it prostitution okay on the Nevada side of the border and illegal just a few feet to the west. That's silly and impractical, and doesn't seem to stop it anyway.

Also, enforce the speed limit on the roads and highways. There are days when it seems they could write enough tickets on Howe alone to close the $12 billion!

Charge schoolchildren for their textbooks. If they and their families paid for the books, maybe they'd take their education a little more seriously. Let the kids clean the rooms and halls after 3PM like kids do in Japan, too, and fire some of the custodial staff.

Cut 10% of the state budget, but only at the senior management levels. Let the fatcats walk for a change. Cut car allowances for university presidents, legislators, and the governor. If I have to drive to work in my own car, why don't they?

Finally, raise the CSU and UC tuition by at least double. It's time the students picked up more of the cost of their education and the taxpayers paid less of a subsidy. Maybe we'd have fewer university students needing remedial math and English.

[Scrapbooker]

Living in Oakdale wrote:

1.cut welfare from everyone who has been on it for longer than 2 yrs. period
2.Legalize pot and tax the hell out of it. Like they do for tobacco.
3. If you are not here legally the state does not pay for you to have a baby.

Not even two years more like 6 months to a year and why they are on welfare make them do all the work that the illegals do for the farmers then they wont have to pay illegals and there will be no work here for them and we can get rid of them and then the state wont have to give them the govs money and maybe it will help them go away!! LOL

[mouser]

Make the state lawmakers live on my salary. That would provide the state tons of money!!

[R2G2plusA]

mouser wrote:

Make the state lawmakers live on my salary. That would provide the state tons of money!!

The state lawmakers are welcome to live on my salary (or my husbands!) That would definately help the budget.

Only the state lawmakers can not have my employers, I work for the world's greatest people!

[Another Parent]

Well, I took the little test/survey thingy and I ended up with a $4.6 Billion dollar SURPLUS in just 5 years!!

I guess that makes me smarter than the politicians, LOL!

ANOTHER PARENT FOR PRESIDENT!!

<TeeHee>

[southsac resident]

Lawmakers should be paid a far most modest salary. Do away with the California County system. Eliminate all that union backed overlayer of expenses of former and present employeees and fire the the whole system. Do away with the County Supervisors nonsense. COMPARE the identical services, roads, & police protection of the city vs the county and you'll find endless waste, better yet, visit or talk to a Supervisor and they'll convince you in two sentences that they're incompetent to care about it's population.(Oh yeah they do care about their image, pockets and illegals). The State of California can have a fair balanced budget, just eliminate & consolate government so we as taxpayers save money...HOW CAN THE COUNTY RESIDENTS BECOME PART OF THE CITY OF SACRAMENTO.? Fruitridge Residents deserve better than being represented by one supervisor who is self serving for his own interest.

[Pab]

Gee, every option given in this story involved additional fees, taxes, carbon credits, etc. As usual it is the hard working taxpayer that gets raped, pillaged and plundered.
So, here is my two cents on how to balance the budget. Vote off all of these morons under the gilded dome that can only spend and elect individuals that can do the following. Stop all support for anyone that is here illegaly, close tax loopholes, agressively collect all owed taxes, fines and any other money due to the State, create a list of services and prioritize it and set spending limits using valid business criteria instead of playing the special interest game. In a nutshell, run the State in the same manner that the taxpayer is forced to run their households, don't spend more than you take in, keep a reserve for emergencies and think of all Californians, not just your friends, contributors and other special interests. Last but not least, let's go back to the part time legislature. It worked well and we didn't have the problems we now have with these prfessional politicians.

[Hmm]

I would cut welfare, cuz most ppl who are on welfare mostly just "use" the system. They are perfectly able to get a job; they are just super lazy. I'd also cut the Legislature's income in half, because they're never there for the whole year!! And when they are, they try to make up stupid laws! That's all I can think of right now.:)

[Julie_P]

I'd cut class sizes. There is no reason to have just 20 kids in a class in grades K-3. When I was in school, we had 34 (or sometimes more) kids in each class. Think of all the money it would save. I would also get rid of the cost of living increase for people on social security.

[R2G2plusA]

Julie_P wrote:

I'd cut class sizes. There is no reason to have just 20 kids in a class in grades K-3. When I was in school, we had 34 (or sometimes more) kids in each class. Think of all the money it would save. I would also get rid of the cost of living increase for people on social security.

Julie_P

You'd cut class sizes? If I am reading your post correctly, it seems that you favor increasing class sizes.

I'd rather limit welfare programs than affect the elderly who are on Social Security.

[Fifth Generation]

Julie_P wrote:

I'd cut class sizes. There is no reason to have just 20 kids in a class in grades K-3. When I was in school, we had 34 (or sometimes more) kids in each class. Think of all the money it would save.

I would also get rid of the cost of living increase for people on social security.

I take it, Dear, that you are not acquainted with someone living on Social Security.

Unfortunately, the cost-of-living increases do not keep up with the actual cost-of-living in California. And, the cost of groceries, and, even, rent, will go up in step with the actual cost of living. My mother-in-law finds her rent rising with each such rise. That rise is usually within a dollar or two of the actual change in her income. That does not allow for the increased cost of utilities, nor of the increased costs of groceries. If she did not have a cost-of-living increase each year, she would soon find herself without a home.

No, Dear, she can not move in with us. Ours is a dinky four-bedroom, already housing four adults. Should be five, but our oldest son can not bring himself to move back in, right now. I have no doubt it is just around the corner, though.

[Mouser]

Julie_P wrote:

I'd cut class sizes. There is no reason to have just 20 kids in a class in grades K-3. When I was in school, we had 34 (or sometimes more) kids in each class. Think of all the money it would save. I would also get rid of the cost of living increase for people on social security.

And how do you propose the older Americans keep up with the cost of living if they never get an increase? You work (I assume) and get raises over time. Retired people need the cost of living increase just to survive.

[A Great Mind]

After reading through all of the suggestions from the peanut gallery I would have to say there are some good and some very bad ideas.

Most people do not understand just how inter-related things are. Cut one thing and another thing becomes more expensive. Cut out welfare and crime fighting costs go up..........

It would save California a lot of money to switch out all light bulbs to modern LEDS or fluorescents. Of course we have not done that because know it or not, the incandescent industry has a powerful lobby!

Best thing we could do for our Country is to remove ALL of the lobbyists. NO MORE SPECIAL INTEREST IN WASHINGTON!!!!!!!!!!

[Julie_P]

R2G2plusA wrote:

<quoted text>
Julie_P
You'd cut class sizes? If I am reading your post correctly, it seems that you favor increasing class sizes.
I'd rather limit welfare programs than affect the elderly who are on Social Security.

Okay, yes,*increase* class sizes. I don't really know what I was thinking. LOL