Game on. The fight to protect family finances and defeat more theft of paychecks of hard-working Californians by an irresponsible government has commenced.

If you’re counting, the January 31 State of the State speech by California’s new-old Governor Jerry Brown means he has literally 5 weeks to arm-twist 2 Republicans in each house to place tax hikes on a special election ballot in June.

In his 14-minute speech, Governor Brown implied the working families of California are just aching to vote to raise taxes. And he suggested that placing massive tax hikes on the ballot is the hallmark of a beautiful democracy:

“When democratic ideals and calls for the right to vote are stirring the imagination of young people in Egypt and Tunisia and other parts of the world, we in California can’t say now is the time to block a vote of the people,” he told lawmakers gathered in the Assembly chambers. — Sacramento Bee

Despite Jerry Brown’s fantasies, here’s the reality: Brown and the Democrat legislators want to tax you more for your earned income, more for your car registration, and more for whatever you buy in California. They also want to continue depleting tax credits from parents with minor children and adults with dependent parents. This is anti-family to the core.

By turning a 2-year-tax hike into a 7-year tax hike, Jerry Brown wants to keep the average state and local tax burden at 10.5%, which is the 6th highest in the U.S., above the national average of 9.7%. He doesn’t want the oppressive Schwarzenegger tax hikes from 2009 to expire and thus improve the economy, providing more jobs and less financial stress for families.

Californians already pay $5,028 per capita in state and local taxes, and the U.S. government takes an even bigger tax bite. But the subject is California taxes. Do you believe you are getting $5,000 worth of good, reputable services from the state and local government? (Remember, you can’t count electricity, natural gas, water, trash, or sewer, since you pay separately for that.) What’s more, consider the TENS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS in annual waste that needs to be cut by our big-spending government led by Democrats. See all the waste that should be slashed instead of raising taxes on families.

TARGET THE REPUBLICANS

How can you prevent new tax hikes and demand that boatloads of government waste be cut instead?

It all depends on the Republicans and the pressure you put on them. Since placing tax hikes on the ballot requires a 2/3rds vote, and since tax-and-spend Democrats are 2 votes short of that in both the Assembly and Senate, tax hikes will be defeated if California families can prevent 4 Republicans from selling out.

SaveCalifornia.com is especially concerned about the 3 Republicans who have not signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge: Senator Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo, Senator Anthony Cannella of Modesto, Merced, Madera, Turlock, Salinas, Hollister and Ceres, and surrounding area, and Assemblyman Bill Berryhill of the Stockton/Manteca/Modesto area.

Step 1: Email a pre-written “no new taxes” message to your Sacramento representatives
Step 2: No matter where you live in California, please email and call the three Republican legislators who haven’t signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Tell them “No new taxes, fees or borrowing! You’re deciding whether to take more money from me and my family!”

Senator Sam Blakeslee
916-651-4015 phone
916-445-8081 fax
Email form (will only accept email messages from district zip codes, so enter Blakeslee’s district office zip code 93401)

Senator Anthony Cannella
916-651-4012 phone
916-445-0773 fax
Email form (will only accept email messages from district zip codes, so enter Cannella’s district office zip code 93901)

Assemblyman Bill Berryhill
916-319-2026 phone
916-319-2126 fax
Email form (will only accept email messages from district zip codes, so enter Berryhill’s district office zip code 95207)

Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love,
but a faithful man who can find?
Proverbs 20:6 ESV