Jan 17 2009
California stealing refund checks from the people?
http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/16/news/economy/california.reut/index.htm?section=money_
Apparently California is having money management problems. (Surprise!) Their solution? To deny state refund checks to those citizens who overpaid their taxes last year. What a great idea. Where I’m from, that’s called stealing. There are people who use that refund for their savings, people who keep fewer deductions all year so they can have a big refund to save. People who NEED their money.
But you know what, Californian citizens? California needs it more. California needs to squander your refund money because they’ve already squandered all of your taxes. They are sitting in a 2 billion dollar squandering hole, in fact!
Here’s a story with the fiscal cash outlook for California for the first half of 2009: http://www.sco.ca.gov/eo/fiscalissues/payments01-2009a.shtml
Some may say, “If the government needs our refund money, they can have it, because I support my country!” For those of you who feel that way, kudos to you for generosity. My problem with it is this: It’s not their money. It was an overpayment of taxes. Morally, the government should give the people their “change”. It’s like a person giving a business a $20 bill for a loaf of bread. The cashier takes the twenty, rings you up for your $2.49 loaf of bread, and then, rather than giving you your $17.51 back in change, pockets it with the explanation, “You know, this business is in a really tight spot. We’ve got bills…and outstanding loans….and the landlord wants his rent…. so we are going to just keep your $17.51, but have a great day.” Stealing is stealing, whether it’s your local supermarket keeping the change or the government of California keeping your change. Forced charity isn’t charity at all, it is theft.
Now for what it’s worth, I am not from California. So when California chooses to screw over it’s citizens, I am not directly impacted. But shouldn’t there be more news coverage over this? Shouldn’t someone in California be saying, “Man, this kind of sucks”?
Maybe there is a logical explanation. Feel free to explain it to me if you think it makes any sense.
For me, most things political coming out of California have a ring of crazy to them anyway.
