CALIFORNIA DREAMING IN MOCO
By Peter Huessy
Many in the Maryland legislature want Maryland to emulate California and adopt its policies and laws. Each week we will thus bring you information about what California has accomplished.
The annual deficit according to the Budget Committee Chair in the State House in Sacramento is $78 billion in addition to the $24 billion owed to the Federal government for erroneous unemployment payments. This compares to an overall state budget of $467 billion, or a deficit of 21%. This compares to the Federal debt of $1.5 trillion projected for FY2024 which is 23% of all spending.
Getting It Right
There is a strong desire by Americans for folks to work across the proverbial aisle and do some good things. This corner of our weekly report will be devoted to letting you know of actions taken around the country that are strongly supported by bipartisan coalitions of voters.
Since 1912, Washington State allows citizens to direct legislation to the legislature which either must put it on the ballot or pass it into law.
In 2024, the Washington State Legislature has 87 Dems and 60 Republicans. They took up six initiatives and passed three: repealed the excise tax on capital gains over $250,000; prohibited carbon tax credit trading; and allowed access by parents to all educational material being used in the schools.
The legislature also sent three other measures to be placed on the fall ballot. These measures include: scholarships for private schools and home schooling; birthdate and signature requirements for voting; and a provision requiring all tax increases to expire after one year unless 2/3rds of the State Legislature votes otherwise.
Bringing You News You Can Bank On
What’s Going on With Inflation?
Below is a graph of key benchmark prices for 20 major commodities. It was 280 last July. Since January 1, 2024, the benchmark has climbed 13.48% in 90 days and is now at 342. That implies a 54% increase annually. Now that is not Venezuela at 210%, but it's higher than Yemen at 44%, or Iran at 33% or the United Kingdom at 9%. For historical reference, when oil hit $148/barrel on July 4th, 2008, the benchmark reached an all-time high of 470. [Thanks to Tom Moore for the info]
Tax, Tax, Tax’
The District of Columbia wants to increase the sales tax from 6% to 7% and increase the payroll tax as well. The income tax is at 10.75%. In New York City, the city will tax your car if you enter the city using one of the bridges with an $18-$36 hit, which will raise $3.4 billon says the city comptroller. The Uncle Sam tax credit for solar panels and wind farms will cost some $1.7 trillion paid to investors over the next 10 years. On the other hand, the administration is proposing $5.9 trillion in new Federal taxes and still projects an additional ten-year deficit of $20 trillion and expenditures over that same period of $89 trillion. That is not a typo folks. That is indeed OMB’s best estimate of what Uncle Sam will spend.
Finally, it took 214 years for the US economy to generate $1 trillion in revenue. That was 1990. Twenty years later, the US Treasury took in $2.1 trillion. Eight years later the Treasury took in $3.2 trillion. And five years after that, projected through FY2023, the revenue hit $4.3 trillion. By comparison, when John F. Kennedy was elected, the US took in $98 billion. When Reagan was elected, the US took in $660 billion.
How long to get to a trillion dollars to the US Treasury 1776-2023
$1.0 trillion by 1990 or 214 years
$2.1 trillion: by 2010 or 20 years
$3.2 trillion: by 2018 or 8 years
$4.3 trillion: by 2023 in 5 years
Does Deregulation Help? Since 2017 when deregulation of the internet was adopted, here is what happened to download speeds.
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Peter Huessy is a Member of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee. Since 1981 he has been President of Geo-Strategic Analysis of Potomac, Maryland. He was a former special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior and consultant to the US Air Force.