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Domain: cbp.org

Stories and comments across the archive that link to cbp.org.

Comments · 7

  1. Re:Quietly I roll along... by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1 · on 2 US Senators Propose 12-Cent Gas Tax Increase

    That's OK. Out here in California, the State that bleeds Blue and is perpetually Democrat dominated (unassailably so at the State level) has roads just as bad (the top four worst cities in the nation for example), has the highest gas tax in the nation ($0.713 per gallon), over $117 BILLION in backlog transportation work, the highest State income tax, and a $777 BILLION State debt.

    Michigan is a rank amateur when it comes to fiscal mismanagement and high taxes...

  2. Re:In my youth by timeOday · · Score: 3, Informative · on Professors: US "In Denial" Over Poor Maths Standards
    Actually average SAT math scores are as high as they've ever been in the US (at least going back to the 1960s) after a big dip in the 70's, 80's, and 90's, which is actually very impressive since the percentage of students taking the SATs has gone way up. So as far as that goes, if the US is declining relative to other nations it is because of improvement on their part.

    According to the linked article, one place that is nosediving in the US is California. Whether that is more due to immigration or per-student spending dropping behind the US average due mainly to referendums on property taxes, I don't know.

  3. Re:In California by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on How Good Are Charter Schools For the Public School System?

    Your numbers are very wrong and you clearly did not do any research.

    California is 49th in school spending across the nation.
    - They spend $8,482 per student.
    - That is $3,342 below the national average of $11,824 and $10,332 below the top spending state of Wyoming ($18,814).

    California is 45th in percentage of state/local resources spent on education.
    - California spent 2.9 percent
    - The national average was 4.4 percent. Vermont was at the top with 5.8 percent.

    California spends an average of (in unified school districts of 1,500-5,000 students):
    - $38,578 for beginning teachers
    - $59,799 for midrange teachers
    - The highest teacher salary is $78,044
    - $106,787 for a High school Principal
    - $150,595 for a Superintendent
    - Approximately 6% of a school's budget is allocated for Administrative salary
    - Approximately 38% of a school's budget is allocated for Teacher salary

    Across the state, four-fifths of school budgets look like this:
    - 38.6% for Teachers' Salaries (Teachers, Nurses, and Librarians)
    - 24.4% for other staff:
    -- Superintendent, Principals, Vice/Assistant Principals, Directors, Coordinators, Managers, etc
    -- Secretaries/Clerical, Janitors, Bus Drivers
    -- Instructional Aides, Interpreter for the deaf, Special Ed, Speech and Hearing, etc
    -- Tech support
    -- Food services/Health services
    -- Counselors, Psychologists, Therapists, Student and Family support
    - 20.4% on employee benefits
    - 12.2% on Services and Operating expenses
    - 4.3% on books and supplies
    - this budget excludes capital projects like building the school in the first place

    Spending source
    Salary source
    California school budget breakdown

  4. Re:Known to cause cancer... by OldeTimeGeek · · Score: 1 · on California Classes LED Component Gallium Arsenide a Carcinogen

    That's only part of the problem.

    Because of all of the propositions that Californians have passed over the years locking in specific levels of spending, there's not a whole lot of give to the budget. Add to that the costs for running the state (salaries, benefits and other costs - about 10% of the budget), only about 30 percent of the California State budget is discretionary.

    The two sides are fighting over the small percentage of budget that they can actually alter. Gridlock is almost unavoidable.

  5. Re:there's no temproary tax or program by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Refund of Long-Distance Telephone Taxes

    As far as I can tell, you are totally full of shit.

  6. Re:Taxes by rworne · · Score: 2, Informative · on Ask Green Party Presidential Candidate David Cobb

    $75K per year won't even qualify you to buy a house now in California without a substantial down payment (much more than 20%).

    A median home (in mid 2003) is over $550K in the Bay Area and $430K in Los Angeles. Incomes are required to be over $120K/yr in SF and over 80K/yr in LA just to buy a house nowadays.

    The paper Locked Out (PDF File) explains it in detail.

    I'm concerned, because local housing prices are climbing way faster than my income. Common sense tells me that 20%+ year over year appreciation cannot be sustained forever, but the market keeps telling me otherwise.

  7. Re:Tax the rich even more is your answer? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Ask the 'Geek Candidate' for California Governor
    According to the California Budget Project (34K PDF),
    Measured as a share of family income, California's poorest families pay the most in taxes. The poorest fifth of the state's non-elderly families, with an average income of $11,100, spent 11.3 percent of their income on state taxes in 2002. In comparison, the wealthiest one percent, with an average income of $1.6 million, spent 7.2 percent of their income on state taxes.
    California actually has a regressive(!) tax system. Ms. Russell's balance-the-budget by taxing increasing the taxes of the wealthiest individuals is both fiscally sound and morally justifiable. It is also totally in-line with what other states and the federal government already do. Peter Camejo has pointed out that we would not have had a deficit at all (despite Mr. Davis' amazing ability to squander the surpluses of prosperous times) if the wealthiest 5% were taxed at the same rate as the poorest 5%.

    Will increased taxes drive some of the wealthiest individuals out of the state? Probably a few. Are the people who make over a million dollars a year the ones keeping the economy going? Probably not. We'll miss them, but not as much as we'll miss the schools, hospitals, police and other vital services that are going to take the bullet for the financial mess we've got here.