From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

And Newsom is a top pick for 2028 POTUS?
Have you Democrats gone mad?

He will fuck up the U.S. just like he's fucked up Cali.

"New Tax Stupidity: Will the Last Productive Person to Leave California
Please Turn Out the Lights?"

<https://redstate.com/wardclark/2026/06/21/new-tax-stupidity-will-the- last-productive-person-to-leave-california-please-turn-out-the-lights- n2203575>

'California seems determined to prove out that old saying of President Reagan's, about government: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving,
regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. California has become
a veritable tax-a-palooza, and they have already driven many of the
productive residents out of the state—those being the people who work,
who invest, who start and run businesses, and who create jobs. From the impeccably coiffed Governor Gavin Newsom, he of the questionable
finances, on down, nobody in California's government seems to understand
the notion of incentives, or how they work.

Now, California is about to press the TURBO button on stupid, with a horrifying round of new taxation.

California lawmakers and the governor this year are preparing to
implement major tax hikes in a matter of weeks, representing one of the largest tax increases in the state within the last decade.

One of the tax increases is an updated tax on health plans. The new tax
is expected to result in $100 per year rate increases for individuals on private health insurance.

Another, brand new tax would tax the purchase of digital software as a
service for anyone who buys it. Apps subject to the new tax include
Microsoft Office, QuickBooks, Work Day and Slack for example. The tax
rate starts at 7.25%.

There are a few people who understand the havoc this will wreak on California's economy.

While the state expects it could result in about $1 billion a year more
in revenue for the state, David Kline, the vice president of research and communication for Cal Tax, said it could be five to six times that
amount.

“The tax, layering or pyramid, depending on how you want to describe it, that's the biggest problem," Kline said. "California has an affordability crisis. And this tax is going to just add a tax extra cost at every step
of the process of every product. You know, if you're manufacturing, you
know, widgets, the famous economic item that doesn't exist, it's going to
cost every step of the way. And ultimately the person at the end is
holding the bag,”

Not necessarily; the person on the end, the person who will get hit by
these taxes, may join the accelerating exodus of the productive from California.


California Dems Want to Charge You for Public Records and Sue You if You Complain

Look, businesses are bailing out of California en masse, and have been
for some time. Oh, California's population may be dropping, but
California is getting more of what they incentivize: More homeless
people, more open-air drug markets, more illegal aliens, more of the
permanent dependency class. Oh, some of the wealthy coastal elites in
their gated communities remain, those that are wealthy enough to be
shielded from the effects of the socialist stupidity that they voted for.
And, thanks to California's election shenanigans, the far-left may
continue to run California for some time to come.

With these new taxes, Sacramento seems determined to drive the last
remaining productive people, the last few businesses, large and small,
out of the state, and into the inviting, low-tax arms of places like
Texas and Florida. Next thing you know, they'll be taxing sunshine,
rainwater and oxygen.

Still, the once-Golden State isn't without some hope that this idiocy
will be forestalled:

"There is some time left in the legislative session for things to be
changed. And historically, the legislature has kept working on the budget right up to the end of the session," Kline said. "So, we're hopeful that
we could convince them to undo some of the damage that these taxes would
do."

I wouldn't hold my breath.

Now, there is still some hope. There are still people in California with conservative views. Some of them are friends and colleagues of mine. They
are fighting the good fight, trying to bring their home state back to
some semblance of sanity. I wish them every scrap of luck, but when
Sacramento engages in lunacy like this, it sure does look like they still
have a long uphill climb to redeem their state'
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