Guess who signed CA's car tax: Arnold's own main man

[Snellius]

One of the prime reasons Californians give for hating Gray Davis is the imposition of a large increase in a car tax, which, unfortunately for Davis, goes into effect the week of the recall election. But as it turns out, Davis is not responsible for this onerous burden on taxpayers but the previous Governor Pete Wilson, who ironically is the major adviser to the tax's chief opponent, Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. Wilson is also the prime architect of California's infamously flawed energy deregulation plan, one of the principle reasons for the state's staggering $38 billion deficit.

A new California governor probably could not rescind a recent tripling of the car tax within hours of taking office, experts say, contrary to repeated claims by two leading candidates in the recall election.

There is a range of obstacles, including the question of whether state law permits lowering the tax and how to replace billions of dollars in lost revenue, according to government officials and outside experts.
...
"In our view, it takes legislation to reduce the car tax, not an executive order," said Nick Warner, legislative director for the California State Sheriffs' Assn., a professional organization that includes the sheriffs in all 58 counties. City and county governments rely on revenues from vehicle license fees to fund public-safety services.

Warner helped draft a law signed by Davis' predecessor, Gov. Pete Wilson, in 1998 that lowered the vehicle license fee by two-thirds and included a "trigger" that required the tax to return to 2% of a vehicle's value when the state had insufficient general funds.
...
"The governor is being very honest and straightforward about this," said Hilary McLean, a spokeswoman for Davis. "Other candidates are saying they will wave a magic wand and make it go away, but they haven't come up with any legal way they will be able to accomplish this."

Schwarzenegger could not be reached for comment.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/recall/la-me-cartax5oct05,1,5097138.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[ComerPerro]

1. Holy Damn

It never ends with these people

[VOX]

2. Good catch, Snellius. The car tax is a big weapon...

So let's do what we can to make sure it's pointed in the proper direction -- at its author.

:kick:

[girl gone mad]

3. This was mentioned no NPR yesterday

Before I heard that Pete Wilson was responsible for the car tax, I had assumed Davis had created it. IIRC, NPR said Davis tried to repeal it, but the CA legislature upheld the tax.

In any case, Davis supporters really need to get the word out that Wilson was responsible for the tax, because I have heard from so many people that this is the issue that is on their minds.

How disingenuous is it for Schwarzenegger to be smashing cars labelled "the Davis Car tax"? The mainstream media is asleep at the wheel again (no pun intended).