Oh, those crafty Californians.
The news out of Sacramento this week was that the California Assembly had passed a budget compromise -- after a marathon 29-hour session -- that doesn't raise taxes!
Unbelievable, isn't it, that the California Legislature could do what the Nevada Legislature couldn't. Unbelievable is the right word.
The budget compromise doesn't raise "taxes," but it does:
-- Triple the cost of licensing a vehicle, which means it'll cost $160 more each a year.
-- Raise the fee to attend a community college from $11 a credit to $18, an increase of 63 percent.
-- Lower school spending by $180 a student.
-- Cut $349 million out of child-care programs.
-- Slash the California Arts Council's funding to $1 million from last year's $19.6 million.
-- Rely on borrowing $10 billion.
-- Still leave an $8 billion deficit.
Suddenly, we don't feel so bad. The California Legislature hasn't really done what Nevada's couldn't. And even though it had a much bigger mess to deal with than Nevada, California still has a way to go before it can start celebrating.
By the way, it took a last-minute demand by Republicans to increase the budget by $250 million to achieve the compromise agreement. So there have been some RINO sightings in the Golden State, as well.
In all seriousness, though, there are hard political choices to be made when the economy is sputtering. California and Nevada certainly aren't alone in trying to balance revenues with services. There will never be enough money to make one side happy, and there will never be enough cutbacks to satisfy the other.
At least in Nevada, there has been no charade about taxes going up. We don't really expect Californians to believe that bluff, either.
