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CONNECT THROUGH LINKS BELOW TO SOME OTHER SITES OF INTEREST !


We're not alone in our concern about the waste of tax dollars local and state agencies.
The sites below may be of benefit in researching the issues further; they show that:

                            1.   too much is extracted from us in taxes, fees, and assessments already;
                            2.   the huge amounts already confiscated by government are badly allocated;
                            3.   there are better ways than new sales taxes to fund libraries;       
                            4.   taxpayers are under attack from several directions on March 5, 2002.                      

This page was last updated on 05/23/06
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  1.    Report on County by County Sales and Use Taxes  from the State Board of Equalization

  2.  "Riverside County Libraries Shelve Old Ways:  First to hire private firm to manage system," 
        Cal-Tax Digest (Sept., 1999)

  3.   Library Systems and Services -- the firm that Riverside County hired to improve libraries.

  4.   State and Local Tax Burdens, By State

  5.   California Taxpayers' Association and Tax Foundation: Data Reports: On average, state and 
        local governments alone consume $3,500 per person annually in California.  And Californians' 
       "Tax Freedom Day" didn't come until May 3rd this year -- meaning that those of us working labored 
        from January 1 to May 3 just to pay taxes !

  6.  "Taxing California - 1995-96 State, Local, and Federal Tax Burden:  Rising Cost of 
        Government  (Sept. '99), California Taxpayers' Association (This is a *.pdf file)

  7. "Study: Each American Pays $2,462 In 'Hidden Taxes'" -- Important revelations from the 
        National Taxpayers' Union about taxes that many Americans aren't even aware they pay.

   8.  Federal Income Tax Data -- This Tax Foundation page shows (for example) that by 2002,
        the top 25% of taxpayers (those making above $56,401) were already paying 83.9% of all
        income taxes paid.  Aren't YOU paying enough already?

  9.  "Tax Freedom Day" -- Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute discusses the huge portion of the year
        that Americans work just to pay taxes. 

10.  The Importance of Preserving Prop. 13 -- by researcher Stephen Moore, of the Cato Institute.

11.  Where Rail Transit Works, and Why -- the Heartland Institute's common-sense analysis

 

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The photo at left was taken in July of 1999, 
in the lobby of the Contra Costa Central Library in Pleasant Hill.  It represents the use of a public facility to push a statewide bond measure, and the new taxes that would go with it.   We read that as an illegal use of public resources, under the standards of Stanson v. Mott (1976), 17 Cal.3d 206:  

     "A fundamental precept of this nation's     
      democratic electoral process is that the 
      government may not 'take sides' in   
      election contests or bestow an unfair 
      advantage...."

Senate Bill 3 eventually became a $350 Million library bond issue that was passed by California voters in March of 2000.  It provides for the kind of capital expenditures that are duplicated by at least $1 Million per year of the annual $12 Million in new taxes anticipated should Measure L pass.

Like other public agencies and their allies, Measure L tax promoters collected and using thousands in campaign dollars from tax-exempt groups and county contractors.  Meanwhile, tax opponents have no tax exemption, and no fat county contracts potentially available to contributors.