California Takes A Bigger Bite Out Of Our Paychecks

Balancing the budget on our backs makes news. When the news was broken yesterday that an additional 10% tax will be placed on Californians’ income you could hear the panic in the headlines, in small talk of distraught folks on their morning commute, and in disgruntled cocktail hour conversations.

When it’s on the backs of seniors and people with disabilities it makes rumbles, but rarely conversation and not headlines. People in California who depend on Social Security Income have lived in the same wage since 1996. Imagine that. Living on the same income that you made 13 years ago, with the cost of food, medicine, transportation going up and up each year. To add insult to injury not only has there been no inflation adjustment, but this year alone benefit levels have been cut three times.

Our 10% tax hike, after the money is done plugging this mess of a budget gap, will be returned. And no, it is not ideal, it is not something most of us want to deal with especially around the holiday season. But, perhaps it can be an eye opener, a little jolt to wake us up to the reality that so many people who are dependent on the safety-net face every budget season. They are the first in line to bear the burden of our state’s economic instability.

So when we do face these cuts and are forced to make difficult decisions now we will all have a better understanding, empathy, and perhaps even a stronger drive to speak out for those who feel the pain of these cuts the deepest.