April 1 has come and gone. Its impact is going to be around for a while. Why? Well, because the sales tax has gone up. The City of Oxnard went from 8.25% to 8.75%. Los Angeles went up even higher to 9.25%.

To show the impact of this increase, let me tell you about how my day on Wednesday began. It all started with a simple trip to McDonalds. As I got in line, a presumed homeless person was speaking in a high tone that he was being overcharged for his cup of coffee. Instead of being charged the $1.08 he had been used to, he was being charged the new price of a $1.50 something. I could see the cashier trying to explain the price went up but the hobo wanted no part of it. Finally, a manager came up and gave the guy the coffee for the old price. I wonder what happened today when he went back, if he went back.

So as you can see the increase in taxes will effect everyone, top to bottom, left to right. Did anyone else have a  run in with the pesky sales tax hike?

On Monday Assemblyman Tom Ammiano introduced a bill that would legalize marijuana. The purpose of legalization would be no other than taxation. With the state still being pushed towards the deficit cliff, any new source of funds seems like a good one.

Marijuana is reported to be California's cash crop raking in over $10 billion a year. That puts it above all other crops raised in the state. So of course the politicians see a new revenue stream and their eyes light up.

Of course a Republican would never propose the legislation. So it came down to Tom Ammiano, a Democrat, and guess where he's from. San Francisco of course.

So will the legislation pass? I really don't think so. Of course new revenue is what the state really needs but at what cost is it willing to go to get it. Legalizing marijuana will change the whole dynamics of the drug war and issues surrounding drug use. MJ is still illegal nationwide and with the DEA raiding medical marijuana dispensaries at will, how will their policy change once the whole state is full of MJ. Concerning drug use, there might be a spike, there might not. MJ is already the most widely used drug. If someone wants to smoke it, they will. So if its available in stores, what is to say there will even be a spike. Those who want it, already have it. The fact that it is illegal really does not seem to be detering anyone.

If the legislation does pass though, I would not be surprised. California loves to take the lead and leave it up to the Democrats to want to tax it.

California Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Legalize Pot [AP]  

President Barack Obama sure wishes everyone paid their taxes. Mainly because three of his picks for some high ranking positions have been held up in confirmation hearings because they failed to pay taxes.

First it started off with Treasury Secretary Tim Geinther. It was found that he some how did not pay about $35,000 in taxes. Reports said some of this was because he tried to do his own returns some years. Oops! Bet he won't try that again. Luckily he was able to pay the back taxes and the politicians in Congress decided to look the other way eventually confirming Geinther.

Second came former Senator Tom Daschle. Now this guy forgot to pay about $140,000 in taxes that were overlooked because of a "complex tax code." The taxes were traced back to a driver he used and did not pay taxes on. So because of Daschle's mistakes, it cost him the position of secretary of health and human services. The man who was supposed to save and revamp the health care industry pulled out of his bid on Tuesday. President Obama came out and said he made the mistake and would take responsibility.

And finally, we have Nancy Killefer who was to take the role of White House performance officer, whatever that is. Well this little lady forgot to pay employment taxes for her household help. The actual amount was not disclosed but it was bad enough that Killefer withdrew her bid.

So the moral of the story is if you want to hold a high ranking position in government one day, you might want to pay your taxes. It could come back to haunt you. 

 Lately Governor Schwarzenegger has been barking up the budget tree so people have started to take it seriously. So yesterday, after a summer of budget woes and a few special sessions there was a plan.

Governor To Veto Budget Plan by Timm Herdt

Yesterday Governor Schwarzenegger talked. And you know when he talks what happens. So yesterday the big guy goes up in front of everyone and asks for $4.4 billion tax hike. Yikes!

He also said that $4.5 billion in cuts will be necessary across all state programs, including education, social services, health care and prisons.

ARE YOU FREAKIN SERIOUS?

You think we can do this right now especially with new reports that unemployment is up to 6.5-percent. That is probably from the 240,000 jobs that were cut in October. That is a lot of jobs.

So I am going to let you take a guess here how they plan on passing these taxes. Well there's really two options. The first is the Guvenator can sway enough Republicans to vote for the hike. Considering he tried this in the middle of the summer and it didn't work then, it's probably not going to work now. So thats means there's only one option. Have California vote on raising taxes.

ARE YOU FREAKIN SERIOUS?

They want to put a tax hike on the ballot. According to the Demorats in Sacramento thats the only way to get it too pass. How in the world do they expect the people to say yes, to tax themselves when we are going through what we are going through.They say its the only way though.

So I guess we're not raising taxes, or are we? Would you vote for a tax hike? What if it meant better services? What if it didn't? What could they say to make you want to vote for taxes? Would more taxes help? I dont know. What do you think?

And if the tax hikes do pass, lets not do what our not so brilliant Lt. Governor John Garamendi proposes. He says that we don't need the $4.5B in cuts. We can keep that and give more to education. Really? Give more money to education. Is that not what we've been doing the last who knows how many years. And look where that has gotten us.

Answer: Pay More Taxes, well if you're Joe Biden

On Thursday, Joe Biden said that by paying more taxes, Americans can be more patriotic.

So no one can say that I am taking the statement out of context, here is what Senator Biden said during a discussion about taxes.

"Its time to be patriotic, time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help America get out of the rut." - Joe Biden

Now I'm no expert, but I'm going to say more taxes is not the solution to solving America's woes. Especially during this economic criss. And I don't think you can really be patriotic by paying more taxes. Only one way to find out, right Joe? So why don't you take the lead and show us how its done.