Why Jenny Oropeza is NOT a businesswoman

Sorry for the week off. I enjoyed a weekend at the California Republican Party Convention in San Francisco, and was planning to write about the results. But I HAD to respond to the editorial in the Thursday Daily Breeze by State Senator Oropeza, who believes that your mortgage tax deduction is a "loophole" that needs to be filled.

In other works, you STILL don't pay enough taxes!

Senator Oropeza states in her editorial that "Leadership means solving problems." She continues..." government leaders must make difficult public service funding decisions with a fixed amount of revenue, and single parents must balance food, clothing and housing needs within the limits of their paychecks. Leaders of all kinds cannot afford to ignore reality; instead, they must make hard decisions with the information at hand." When I first read the editorial, I thought she had literally switched parties, or at least had a VERY good dinner meeting with fellow Senator Tom McClintock. But then she goes on to state "Beyond a few small fee increases, the governor has not proposed new or higher taxes to help balance revenues - echoing the party line issued by legislative Republicans." Thank you, Governor Schwarzenneger!

Democrats continue to miss the basic point of Senator McClintock: The business community does not pay taxes! Furthermore, rich individuals and families are not the most hurt by increased taxes; the poor and missle class are! For businesses, sales tax and other expenses are collected through the price of their products. Any increase of either are readily transferred to the consumer through increased prices. As for the rich, the costs of increased taxes are paid through less spending, whether it's eating out, traveling, purchasing nicer clothes, etc. Those employed in these industries that are dependent upon rich spenders are the hardest hit. This means restaurants, hotels, retail stores & other employers of low and middle class Americans.

The Long Beach Press-Telegram reported it better today: "With the state still facing a massive budget deficit, lawmakers have launched an effort to examine how many of the estimated $50 billion in tax credits and deductions they can reduce or eliminate to help balance the books. Those credits - sometimes called 'loopholes' by critics - range from the mortgage interest deduction to research credits for business to enterprise zones in the inner city. Many of them represent politically popular benefits that analysts say will be very difficult to eliminate when a two-thirds vote is required."

I'm surprised that those in Senator Oropeza's district, which includes Carson, El Segundo, Torrance, the Beach Cities and my portion of San Pedro, have tolerated someone who believes that her constituents need to sacrifice their tax deductions, which I'm sure are used primarily on essentials & retail (aka, economic stimulus). Jenny had a cake walk to get elected her first term; with these types of comments and liberal opinions, she needs to have a true challenge in 2010. Maybe something for the 53rd and 54th AD committees to work on together.

I may know someone interested...