Tax Revolt In California: Coming To A State Near You?

For decades, California has been a trend setter for the rest of the United States. If yesterday's resounding defeat for taxation as a solution to California's multi-billion dollar budget deficit is the beginning of a new trend, an era of hard choices is descending upon the land. We are a society that has come to rely on debt as a means of acquiring our wants at any cost. That strategy appears to have run its course in many households. If voters have any say, that strategy is about to end in state houses as well. The time to face the hard decisions of where and how much to reduce expenditures is upon us. I think most states are like the federal government in that they have sizable entitlements that cannot be cut easily. That leaves them with a small bag of discretionary funds for chopping, dicing and splicing. I can hear the special interests protesting already, but what's a legislature to do?

The Internet is full of details of the California vote. I'll leave it to you to search them. No doubt we'll be hearing more from the voters who can no longer tolerate spending beyond taxation. We'll also learn how well they can adjust to living within their new means, and that's where I think the real story lies.