COVERITLIVE.COM

10:03

michael smolens - Good morning. Much going on these days with, finally, a state budget agreement that will raise your taxes and a federal budget that President Obama hopes will help right the economy, among other things. If you have any questions or comments on these or other issues, fire away.

10:04

SignOnLiveChatModerator - Michael, welcome. We're glad to have you join us today. What is President Obama expected to talk about tonight in his address to Congress?

10:08

michael smolens - This speech probably will sound and feel like a State of the Union address, but technically, it isn't one because a new president doesn't give one, having been just elected. But all first-year presidents give a similar address.
Obama is expected to talk about his budget plans along with the broader economic problems facing the country. No doubt he will also discuss foreign affairs. But the economy is the big thing and in additioin to all the other moves he's making -- stimulus, bank bailout, mortgage relieve etc. -- his aides said yesterday he will focus on health care reform, which they believe is really the biggest long-term threat to the financial stability of the country.

10:09

SignOnLiveChatModerator - Michael, I'm not an economist and I know you aren't either, but it seems to me the state budget's combination of cuts and tax increases will hurt the economy by taking money out of it. Did the legislature add any stimulus provisions to the budget, and if so what were they?

10:15

michael smolens - There were some stimulus provisions in the way of tax breaks for corporations, small businesses and the film industry in particular. The idea is the tax cuts would help them preserve and create jobs, and possibly persuade them from moving out of state if they are thinking about doing that. As always with these things, there's great debate about whether the tax cuts will have the desired effect, or are just a sop to special interests.
The real stimulus will come from unlocking billions of dollars for public works projects, mostly for transportation, that had been held up because of the budget stalemate.
But clearly everything will cost more (because of the sales tax increase) and people will be paying more in income taxes. So that can have a dampening effect on spending, and thus hurt the economy. The flip side is if they closed the $42 billion deficit entirely through cuts, such huge spending reductions would have had a devastating impact on the state's economy.

10:20

SignOnLiveChatModerator - Michael, I've read that the income tax has gone up, but I don't know what that means for my paycheck. How can people find out how much will be withheld from their paychecks?

10:23

michael smolens -

The dust probably needs to settle a bit, but at some point you could ask your employer about the withholding change. They're going to have to do it, so they should know how it will work soon, if they don't already. I'm not sure about this, but I imagine that if you went to the state Department of Finance Web site or visited the site of a state tax organization, such as Cal-Tax, they would have more detail on how that will work. I'm not sure when the withholding kicks in.

10:29

SignOnLiveChatModerator -

To pass the budget, the Democrats agreed to hold a referendum to allow open primaries. In your opinion, how will the public respond? Some have said this could, if passed, have a sweeping impact on state politics.

10:33

michael smolens - We'll have to see what the public mood is when the open primary measure is on the ballot in June 2010. But right now I think the public is so fed up with the extreme partisan divisions in Sacramento -- and the ill effect that has had on how the state is run -- that they would give anything a try that might change the equation, which supporters say an open primary will do. But there will likely be a well-financed campaign against it by the political parties. An open primary measure on the 2004 ballot was defeated.
But while the promise that the open primary will bring in a nonpartisan atmosphere is probably a stretch, the notion that it could lead to more political moderates getting elected is credible.

10:37

[Comment From bfd]
sorry michael, political "moderates" are the last thing we need in sacramento right now. the state is looking at a massive taxpayer revolt, along the lines of jarvis.

Page 1 Next >