What is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. With that definition, can an entire state be considered insane? The answer is yes, and we can use California as a case study.
Just weeks after a gaggle of California politicians went down to Texas to find out why jobs were fleeing from here to there, the California state assembly gave them their answer. Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Whittier) introduced a bill that would drive internet retailers out of the state. The bill would require any online retailer to collect sales tax if they have any kind of operation in California at all. By any kind, that would include everything from corporate offices to manufacturing to…affiliates. Yes, if you have a website that directs others to online retailers, and you actually live in California, that is enough for California to demand sales tax collection.
Online retailers such as Amazon.com have threatened to pull all operations out of California if the law passes. They aren’t kidding. They’ve already done it in Illinois where a similar law was passed. The result? Lost jobs, and lost revenue, the exact opposite of the what the law ostensibly intended.
Lobbying has its perks, and nowhere (save Washington D.C.) is that more obvious than in California. Stores such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart are complaining that the non-tax collecting sites such as Amazon are hurting their brick and mortar operations in the state. That’s just a lie. These retailers have online sites themselves, and you can purchase anything there that you can get in the store. In effect, they’re undercutting their own employees by having a website at all. But this is big business at war with eachother, and those that can lobby the most effectively get their way. Apparently, Amazon didn’t do any lobbying at all in California or Illinois.
This bill will cost even more jobs in California, already boasting one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. California also has the dubious distinction of some of the highest taxes and also one of the highest rates of businesses leaving the state. Did those politicians learn anything from that trip to Texas? Apparently not, because it’s business as usual in the once golden state.
The good news is that if you don’t live in California, Amazon may be coming to a neighborhood near you, and will be bringing some jobs with them. You can thank California for that. No, the state didn’t mean to help your state out, and a bustling economy set on investment and trade across the country would be much more beneficial for all, but the socialist crop of goons in Sacramento are intellectually incapable of sustaining the principles that once made this state the envy of the nation. Now it’s a joke, but nobody’s laughing here.
Great read here. This guy nailed it.
Those that do not learn from history….. It amazes me that these people can see what happens when legislation like this passes and still try it over and over again.
Unfortunately, the best and the brightest aren’t necessarily the ones that end up in office.
Wow I always thought Californians were insane. Now I have evidence! Hopefully Amazon will move to my state, we don’t mind jobs in Idaho.
Well, they have to manufacture those Kindles somewhere. If not China, maybe Idaho.
California is like a mini- version of the United States. As usual California is ahead of the curve. But if things continue, the whole country will look like California.
That’s what bothers me Jim. James Dean was ahead of the curve too.
High taxes, burdensome regulations, high cost of living. That’s the Californian way. That’s the path toward poverty.
What do you know Tony, we have double digit unemployment and a $20 billion + state budget deficit. Saying nothing about the individual cities. Poverty indeed.