I'd be in favor of a tax increase under those conditions.  And yes, I expect the Republicans to play politics with California's future.

AARP just sent this out:

CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS TODAY -- CUTS TO HEALTH CARE AND VITAL SERVICES WILL HURT ALL OF US!

In the midst of a $15.2 billion budget deficit in California, our Government and lawmakers are considering a series of very harmful cuts to many vital health care and social services - cuts that hurt all of us. Current budget proposals would do the following:

• Eliminate certain medical services like dental care, optical care, incontinence creams, podiatry, chiropractic treatments and other vital care programs for approximately 2.5 million adults who are blind, elderly or disabled.
• Quadruple the amount of paperwork required to be filed by families on Medi-Cal each year - resulting in approximately 470,000 children losing their health care coverage as a result of this proposed policy, according to the Sacramento Bee.
• Drastically cut the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) programs that help persons with disabilities live independently, potentially forcing as many as 400,000 IHSS recipients out of their own homes and into nursing home facilities.
• Cut Senior Nutrition Programs, Alzheimer Day Care Resource Centers, home delivered meals and other important safety net programs that help older and frail low income residents by 10 percent.
• Deny Medi-Cal coverage to more than 1 million Californians, including parents in families of three earning as little as $12,000 per year.

The above is just a partial list. And, budget cuts have already diminished the services of medical providers across the state.

Doctors, clinics, pharmacists, adult day health care centers have been cut, and some will be forced to close. With more cuts proposed, the problem will only get worse.

OUR MESSAGE:
Take Action! Call your legislator today through our toll free legislative hot line and urge them to vote for a budget that protects vital health care services and includes revenues. Tell them that cuts hurt all of us. Please call the following toll free number to be connected to your State Assembly Member. Dial 1 888 458-6355

I'm in favor of it as well. Especially because it targets the wealthy rather than middle class. It won't effect most (if not all) of us, unless we fail to do what's necessary.

We certainly can't possibly get more tax money coming in by cutting taxes. I've always wondered why some republicans think that it works that way.

I don't agree with any raise in taxes until they stop providing services to illegals at the expense of citizens. If they were to do that, I think they would be surprised at the amount of funds that would be freed up.

AMEN GHOST!!!   :)

I have actually seen the numbers. It is astounding how much money is spent on educating, housing, providing "free" medical care, etc. to ILLEGAL ALIENS. Not to mention all of the money we spend on them in prison, court costs, public defenders.....

We have to do something~ and holding our own citizens hostage till we fix illegal immigration is not the way to go. IHSS is the program that helped me out so much when Kelsey was alive,it added around $400 to my monthly budget. Made a world of difference.

To play devil's advocate, though, let me ask you this, ghostriter.

Several hospital and health care experts say that we're paying for illegal residents one way or another. By not providing preventative care, we force them to hold off on care until it's unbearable. They then show up in emergency rooms, lengthening wait times for us all, presenting with more costly ailments to treat that citizens end up paying for anyway. So the dilemma becomes should we pay for basic medical care that could take care of problems before they get worse, or just wait until they come to the ER?

How do you feel about this sentiment?

Sorta a little off topic... Medicare paid out $77 million to bills summitted by doctors reported dead...just saw it on Bloomberg

If I were wealthy and they passed this budget, I would relocate my permanent residence to Wyoming. No state taxes. Perhaps the democrats want to chase all the wealthy people out of the state?

If you are gonna raise taxes, raise 'em for everyone.

If we chased all the wealthy people out of California, then the median home price in San Francisco might drop below eight incomes.

Good point witbee, but illegals don't pay taxes usually. I say we send them home or at least keep them from coming in illegally, then re-evaluate things. I would be less resentful about paying taxes if I knew it was being spent on needy citizens and not on illegals.

They *DO* pay taxes usually.  They buy stuff at the same stores we do and pay sales taxes.  They pay gas taxes.  Their rental payments go to property taxes just like citizens. 

Make them citizens and their Social Security taxes will be withheld just like ours.  In some cases it already is.

If you are gonna raise taxes, raise 'em for everyone. 

But if you're going to *LOWER* them, make sure you only do it for the top 5% or so.  --Republican proverb.

Random, I was only thinking about income taxes. I should have been more specific.

Ah, but you're assuming that illegal immigrants are always paid in cash, and not via a payroll system. Illegal immigrants usually pay all applicable taxes and frequently don't get any refund, either, and actually contribute to the current surplus of the Social Security Administration.

But don't bother with actually researching a topic before coming up with some politician's gut-level talking point. It might be a distraction that keeps you from, you know, actually worrying about something important.

More interesting info:

"Legal Status No Guarantee of Success. Figure 9 makes clear that immigrants who have legal status, but little education, generally have low incomes and make heavy use of welfare programs. If we decide to legalize illegal immigrants, we should at least understand that it will not result in dramatically lower welfare use or poverty for most illegal aliens. This does not mean legalization is necessarily a bad idea. But it does mean that those who advocate such a policy need to acknowledge this problem and not argue that legalization will save taxpayers money or result in a vast improvement in the income of illegal aliens. Legalized illegals will still be overwhelmingly uneducated and this fact has enormous implications for their income, welfare use, health insurance coverage, and the effect on American taxpayers."

emily, I personally think ERs should be limited to urgent or emergency health care only, and I know many who work ER who feel the same. No dice for someone coming in with a cold or a rash or something that belongs in a clinic; they should be sent away. And there are clinics that cater to this particular problem.

The thing that gets me is when I have illegals coming into my medical office getting the best of everything at the expense of the state, while single working parents have to put off their children's care because their ten-buck-an-hour job does not offer health care. They make too much money to get MediCal, and that's a crime.

It may sound mean, but I do not believe we are obligated to give illegals a free medical ride, either preventive or otherwise. They come over here and take advantage precisely because they know that they will not be turned away. And providing preventive care for illegals will not solve the ER overcrowding issue, because these people will still let their health problems go untreated. They are in hiding, and do not want to be caught.  

No, we are not obligated to do anything for the undocumented illegal workers in our midst. If a person considers what doing nothing means they might reconsider their position. The costs of this shadow group of people who refuse treatment in hospitals or clinics for fear of imprisonment and deportation means that many communicable diseases that would be found early are not found until it is too late, at a tremendous cost to us all.

We now have a serious outbreak in this valley of  bovine tuberculosis,  that our government will not even identify the dairies involved to the public. Where did the tuberculosis strain come from? How fast is it spreading, and in what directions? Has the disease tainted milk or other dairy products? Pasteurization kills the disease, but tuberculosis is an airborne pathogen. This outbreak can cripple California's dairy industry.

We now have one of  the largest foodborne disease outbreaks in history with the continually expanding salmonella story. Over 1,000 people in 41 states have been sickened, and the tomato industry stands to lose more than $100 million this year as the scapegoat. But tomatoes might not even be the culprit. FDA inspectors are now looking at the other salsa ingredients like cilantro or peppers.

I find it no coincidence that the rise in diseases related to food are happening today as a result of the factory farming practices giant corporate farms employ. The costs of the nearly slave like labor practices are now being felt by all citizens.  We  pay the tab  as corporate investors demand costs be controlled by refusing to hire at livable wages the people toiling in the fields and in the stockyards.

The anger at the poor migrant is very misplaced. The anger by citizens should be directed at those who control the businesses and refuse to adhere to health and safety standards. We have allowed the corporate fox to run the chicken coop for far too long. Our local, state and federal government has failed every citizen by relaxing standards and not demanding from giant business concerns fair labor and health conditions for American workers.

Don't blame the poor migrant, he is just the pawn to be blasted at to protect the real scoundrels hiding behind a purchased brand name.

We really are in a tough situation, with our governments so tied to tax money, that in times when the economy is down, the only real option is to raise taxes to pay for things. 

Although, I think there is a lot of wasted money out there that could be found to make up some of the gaps.  I think regardless of your party ties, you all can agree that government wastes way too much of your money and mine.

As far as cutting aid to illegal immigrants, in theory it is a good idea, but it probably will never happen.  Can you imagine the riots the first time a hospital turns someone away for service because they are not a citizen? 

I would rather see more funding for clinics, then hospitals.  Leave them to what they are hear for, major problems.  Too many people go to the hospital with a cold, when that can be taken care of at an urgent care or a clinic.