Affordability
Government
at all levels needs to confront its effects on the overall cost of living in California. Escalating tax collections and the expense of meeting
government mandates, together with the increasing complexity and
intrusiveness of state regulations, is now affecting all segments of our
society and is creating hidden living costs that fall most harshly on lower
income residents. Examples of how government affects our everyday living
expenses include:
- By restricting
the supply and increasing the regulatory and infrastructure costs of
residential development, governments at all levels have pushed the price of
both home ownership and rental rates for adequately maintained living units
above the reach of many lower income residents. The resulting scarcity and
higher prices are now causing multiple families to share houses and forcing
working Californian’s to live in substandard housing.
- The high cost
of insurance required to license automobiles in California is forcing lower income Californian’s to choose between
not owning a car or driving illegally without a license and insurance. This
is not a criticism of the need for mandatory automobile insurance, but is an
example of how the state fails at implementing a good idea by not dealing
with predictable consequences. Today’s high costs are partly caused by rising
liability claims that are being promoted by Democrat supported trial lawyers
and by the catch 22 of increased expenses for uninsured motorist coverage.
And this problem will get worse as insurance rates continue to climb.
- Escalating
costs and scope of mandated programs for relatively minor additional
benefits, such as increasing the expense and complexity of vehicle smog
inspections under Smog Check II, are taking both time and money from people
who have the least ability to pay and have the greatest difficulty in
arranging time off to comply with government required appointments and
paperwork.
- The cumulative
effect of taxes and fees is driving up the costs of goods and services for
all Californians. For example, the cost of food includes taxes on property,
equipment, personal property, income, fuel, power, and communications plus
the cost of required fees, licenses, and permits that must be paid by
farmers, truckers, processors, distributors, markets, and all of the employees
who are involved in bringing crops from the fields to the consumer. Each of
these costs may be individually minor, but they add up to a significant
portion of the total price of all products and services that are paid the
same by rich and poor alike.
So
far, the state’s response to affordability problems has been to give
subsidies to lower income residents. But this approach actually adds to the
problem by requiring increased taxes and fees that are then included in the
prices that we all pay. Instead of such an unquestioning reliance on
subsidies that end up increasing everyone’s costs, we need to start the
process of untangling the many expenses imposed by government so that we can
attack the problem from the cost side of the equation and make rational
decisions about how all Californians can afford to live in this state.
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