On the heels of Tax Day, 1st District Senator Ted Gaines announced a package of legislation that he says will help provide much-needed financial relief to over-taxed, over-burdened Californians.
“We’ve got an out-of-control state government that thinks higher spending is the answer to every problem and Sacramento is always hungry for more taxpayer dollars. But enough is enough. I need the families and businesses around the state to know that I’m putting their needs first. I’m going to let them keep more of the money they earn instead of shipping it to an unaccountable Sacramento,” said Senator Gaines in a statement released by his office Tuesday.
“If the state can waste tens of billions of dollars on pie-in-the-sky projects like High Speed Rail it’s a sure sign that it has more money than it knows what to do with and that it’s time to cut taxes.”
In an effort to, “alleviate some of this tax burden,” Senator Gaines has introduced the following bills:
Dependent Tax Credit (Senate Bill 874)
According to the Senator’s office this bill increases the take home pay of working families by increasing the yearly dependent tax credit to $422 per dependent, from $337.
Hunting Equipment No Tax Weekend (Senate Bill 890)
This legislation, if passed, would exempt hunting equipment from sales and use tax during two weekends a year – a weekend preceding the beginning of deer season and a weekend preceding the beginning of waterfowl season.
Standard Deduction (Senate Bill 891)
This bill raises the standard deduction amounts for Personal Income Tax by 25-percent for the 2016 tax year. After that one-time increase, the standard deduction would continue to be indexed for inflation, per current law.
Tax-Free Weekend (Senate Bill 1210)
Gaines’ Tax-Free Weekend bill exempts school supplies such as backpacks, clothing, shoes, computers and educational software from state sales and use tax during a weekend preceding the start of school.
According to Tuesday’s handout California’s state and local governments collect about $250 billion in taxes every year, $6,000-plus per Californian.
Gaines explains that California’s sales tax is the highest in the nation, gas taxes are in the top five, the business tax climate ranks as third-worst and California has among the highest personal income tax rates in the country.
“I recently issued a survey to constituents in my Senate District and an overwhelming majority responded that California’s taxes are too high,” said Senator Gaines. “This sends a crystal clear message that we need to reduce taxes, regulations and spending to ensure that our taxpayers can invest their money back into our economy, not into state coffers.”
Senator Ted Gaines represents the 1st Senate District, which along with Lassen County includes all or parts of Alpine, El Dorado, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Sierra and Siskiyou counties.
