Schwarzenegger Preps ‘Terrible Cuts’ to Close Deficit

By Michael B. Marois and William Selway

May 11 (Bloomberg) -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will seek “terrible cuts” to eliminate an $18.6 billion budget deficit facing the most-populous U.S. state through June 2011, his spokesman said.

Schwarzenegger, 62, who will introduce his revised budget plans on May 14, has said he won’t seek tax increases to bolster California’s finances. The Republican’s forecast for the budget gap may rise after revenue fell short of his targets last month.

“We can’t get through this deficit without very terrible cuts,” Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear told reporters in Sacramento. “We don’t believe that raising taxes right now is the right thing to do.”

California’s revenue in April, when income-tax payments are due, trailed the governor’s estimates by $3.6 billion, or 26 percent. The gap wiped out gains from the previous four months, leaving collections $1.3 billion behind projections for the budget year that ends in June.

Schwarzenegger’s newest plan will revise the proposals introduced in January to account for the tax-collection shortages. In January, the governor said California may have to eliminate entire welfare programs, including the main one that provides cash and job assistance to families below the poverty line, without an influx of cash from the federal government.

Since then, the Democrat-controlled Legislature has made few strides toward closing the budget hole. Legislation adopted during the emergency session ordered by Schwarzenegger knocked about $1.4 billion from the deficit.

Tax Measures

Democrats this week introduced a package of bills that would raise as much as $2.9 billion annually by imposing a 10 percent severance tax on oil production in the state, repealing corporate-tax breaks approved last year to spur job growth and assessing commercial property taxes differently.

Schwarzenegger is girding for his final fight over California’s budget before leaving office in January. Over the last two years, he and lawmakers have had difficulty redrawing the budget fast enough to make up for revenue lost amid rising unemployment.

By the beginning of 2010, Schwarzenegger and the lawmakers had closed a $60 billion deficit partly by slashing spending on schools, temporarily raising taxes and borrowing from local governments.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aMHZOCQK9hC4

And then the migrant rats will flee the sinking ship. How many of these low income families have been in CA longer than four or five years? People came here looking for welfare. It happened in the 70s, and the 80s with new welfare programs. We would get a surge of people coming here "looking for work" but then they get welfare and suddenly they have no need to work and play like "we can't find jobs." Way too many milkers on the system and now they are facing getting cut off.

That sucks for people who circumstance screwed them and now the milkers ruined it for everyone else.

Still, if the state doesn't have the money the state can't cut the checks!


Thems' is the fakts!

Whatever happened to releasin' all those convicts early?
Did that happen?

It might turn out the other way around, Andy. Those who would be the ones to carry the load for the Invader might jump ship.

You really think Arnie will cut programs for the Illegal? They the ones who's gonna' insure Obummer gets voted back in.

Are there any statistics about how many of the people affected by these 'terrible cuts' are in the country 'doing jobs Americans won't do' ... ? Just curious ...

Those stats are due out one day after Hell freezes over.
www.ain'tgonna'happen.checksinda'mail

Lets see if Arnie finally grows a pair for real! I would hope cutting the illegals off helps.

Something one of my friends made as an observation. Most of the time it is illegal men doing most of the work while their wives stay at home and raise their 18 kids. And we get the privilege to help raise them. So while we have one man illegally here working how many other non working illegals taking advantage of our welfare stand behind him? And how many of them are illegal children or children of illegals?

Wake up Libs! We can't be supporting other peoples families when they need to support their own. WE DON'T HAVE THE MONEY!