Editor,

California’s electoral euphoria will eventually dissipate to copious forms of new tax appeals that habitually resume as revenue shortfalls reappear, reigniting the unaddressed dysfunctionality that epitomizes a state that reviles fiscal conservatism. With Proposition 30 passed and Proposition 32 defeated, the Greco delusion will continue barring a collision with economic reality.

A $6 billion spending increase was built into California’s fiscal 2013 budget; this money is already spent while possessing the lowest credit rating and highest debt in the nation of $618 billion. The failure of Proposition 32, to bar rapacious unions from forced dues payments, ensures sustainability of union dominance on both sides of the bargaining table securing future taxpayer largesse. Utah and Idaho successfully employed restraints on unions with Indiana becoming the 23rd state to limit unions’ power to collect dues from non-union workers. Wisconsin now limits public union collective-bargaining rights and Michigan, the quintessential Rust Belt dinosaur, has undergone an astonishing progression to be reborn a right-to-work state. Meanwhile, California leadership takes the form of achieving a prominent ranking in Forbes magazines’ list of Death Spiral States.

Between 1992 and 2008, the number of tax-paying Californians entering California was smaller than the number departing — 3.5 million versus 4.4 million, with a net loss of 869,000 tax filers. Those leaving were wealthier than those arriving, with average adjusted gross incomes of $44,700 versus $38,600. The net loss of those filers cost California $44 billion in tax revenue. California’s response to this unrelenting fiscal hemorrhage: tax increases. Welcome to Taxifornia.

Tony Favero

Half Moon Bay