Throughout this article I will be drawing extensively from quotations of the Governor and others in the California tax system. These quotes were obtained here: http://cbs13.com/politics/tax.panel.recommendation.2.1215245.html, and no effort has been made to ensure their veracity. They are therefore being taken at face value.

Long considered the looney-bin of the United States, California has realized that the main cause of it's revenue problem is it's tax code (and possibly the crazies that live there). A long time boom-and-bust economy, California relies on income taxes and sales taxes for revenue, and is fully imbued with politicians who LOVE to spend money... the best kind of money... other people's money. They spend as much of it as possible.

"It is a system that just didn't work. It is heavily flawed and it is absolutely disastrous," Schwarzenegger said at a Capitol news conference. "All of these services go on this extraordinary roller coaster ride, up and down, up and down."

The Governator is of course correct, and the source of funding should be changed to a consumption tax, however he fails to note that if funded at a MEDIAN level, adjusting for inflation, these programs could benefit from a stable funding model in the long term (assuming these programs themselves aren't worthless).

This aside the actual proposal is preposterous. It attempts to tax people from other states who do business in California, shifting it's tax burden out of state. The tax board has troubles finding historical examples of such a tax, but I, faithful readers did not have to look hard. The most recent historical taxes were the "Intolerable Taxes" levied by King George III against the American Colonies.

Is war against California inevitable? Or just a hilarious possibility?