You do realize a wealth tax is one way to bring in income to try to fix these problems right? You guys don't even have universal healthcare in the middle of a global pandemic. Laughably sad.
california is huge. if they fixed transport problem(HST failed), we have plenty of space to build homes. its not like we are the australian bush or something..these are perfectly buildable areas..its just not san francisco or the bay area or wherever there is high density and everyone want to flock to the nicest place to live as cheaply as possible.
Can anyone remind me what the rich when ending this racket is on the ballot?
At some point the most rational thing becomes to leave California if you are not a homeowner, or to never go there in the first place, and to geographically diversify the industries that are located there. All these things seem to be happening already. Ship may have sailed.
More money won’t fix a broken government any more than more revenue fixes dying companies.
IMHO one of the roots of all evil was proposition 13, which created a kind of property owners caste with a vested interest in actually making the housing problem worse. From that flows the homeless crisis, as housing costs start at upper middle class income levels anywhere in the state that also has jobs.
The problem is that proposition 13 is a hole from which it would be really hard to dig the state out from. Any politician who challenges it is voted out instantly by the landed caste as well as by the financially vulnerable younger folks who over-leveraged themselves into unaffordable homes and would be ruined if housing fell.
The infrastructure problem is also partly related to the housing problem. Nobody dares change anything because it might pop the housing bubble.
Prop 13 was a Republican thing, which shows that this isn’t just a Democrat or “too much liberalism” problem. It’s deeper than that.
I highly doubt it's that rather than the fact special interest are prioritized over 'effective government' in large parts due to some conservatives and neoliberals promoting the idea of corruption == freedom. When there's a thousand ways to legally bribe politicians, of course there's no incentive for effective government.
California doesn’t have a money problem. They have a lack of political will problem and an incompetence (or corruption) problem. The state is held hostage by NIMBYs and is chronically unable to build infrastructure. Look at the high speed train disaster for an example of the latter.
NIMBYs ensure that any money or effort put into the homeless problem is also wasted, as there is no affordable housing for these people to inhabit even if their mental health issues are dealt with.
More money won’t fix these things. It will probably go into the pockets of the people who created these problems.
Note that much of what I wrote applies to the USA broadly. We are taxed not much less than Canadians, but have the infrastructure and social services of a “developing” nation.
Give me either low taxes at e.g. Costa Rica levels OR shiny infrastructure, free college for my kids, and universal healthcare.
Oh wait Costa Rica has universal health care...
We are great at setting money on fire in this country.