Clinton & McCain Win California
the headline says it all...
Posted by Zuma Dogg @ 2/05/2008 09:16:00 PM
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
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12 Comments:
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http://donculo-rants.blogspot.com/
With so many mexicans with the attitude as Sr. Don Culo, a black man (Mayate) will have a difficult time being elected in California or other state with a mexico border.
February 05, 2008 11:08 PM
That was a very profound statement.
Contentious telephone user tax rings up initial support.
L.A. officials have warned of cuts in public safety, other services if proposal is not passed.
Los Angeles voters appeared to broadly endorse a controversial citywide telephone users tax in early returns Tuesday, giving hope to city leaders that the measure would pass and preserve $270 million a year in much-needed revenue.
With slightly more than 10percent of precincts reporting by 11 p.m., some two-thirds of voters supported the measure. It needed a simple majority to pass.
The measure was written to withstand legal challenges to the city's telephone users tax, which generates $270 million a year. The measure reduces the tax from 10percent to 9percent, but expands it to include modern technology such as Internet phone use.
"The early returns are promising, and we are hopeful that the trend continues," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.
"(Measure) S is critical to our efforts to keep crime at historic lows in this city, and we are encouraged the residents of Los Angeles are responding."
If voters reject the measure, however - and the city loses a legal challenge to the tax - the city would give up as much as $270 million a year, or about 4 percent of the city's $6.8 billion budget.
Villaraigosa has warned that the loss of that money could lead to layoffs and big cuts to city services, such as library hours and recreation centers. In TV ads, Police Chief William Bratton and Fire Chief Douglas Barry have warned of public-safety cuts if the city loses the money.
The budget shortfall would also likely trigger city employee layoffs, and organized labor - including groups that represent city employees - contributed nearly $2 million for ads and mailers urging voters to support the measure.
The city of Los Angeles currently taxes land-line and most cell-phone calls. There have been two legal challenges - one decided against the city, one still in court - that could strike down the tax.
Measure S would rewrite the tax to withstand the legal challenges.
Apart from lowering the tax 1 percentage point, it would swap in broad language that covers a wider range of telephone-like technology and would allow the city to tax the routing of voice, audio, video, data or other communication information transmitted through fiber-optic coaxial cables, power lines, broadband, DSL or wireless systems.
City leaders have said they cannot estimate how much the tax on modern telephone services would generate, but several officials said they expect the new revenue would recoup the $27 million the city will lose by reducing the tax rate from 10percent to 9percent.
That has raised concern among some community and business groups that the measure taxes new services and could eventually be used to tax Internet access.
"Villaraigosa and the City Council and special interests may be in a pretty good mood for a while because they managed to fool the voters," said Walter Moore, an attorney, candidate for mayor and leading opponent of the measure.
"But this issue woke up a lot of people about what's going on in City Hall, and the flat-out lying to voters, calling a tax hike a tax cut."
The board of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association has opposed the measure. Some business and community groups said they understand the potential financial impact on city services if the measure fails, but have been frustrated with how leaders launched the measure at the last minute and pitched it as a tax cut.
Los Angeles has taxed telephone services since 1967, and, as technology evolved, the city began taxing some modern services, such as cell phones and video teleconferences.
However, wireless companies challenged the city's right to tax cell calls that do not originate or terminate in the city of L.A. The city began taxing those calls in 2003.
An appellate court sided with the wireless companies and ordered the city to stop collecting the tax on those calls.
However, the city is still collecting the tax on them because telephone companies don't have the ability to distinguish and separately bill for those calls.
The federal government also has lost several lawsuits with telephone companies and decided in 2005 that it would no longer collect the federal excise tax on long-distance calls and might repeal the tax on local calls.
A resident has filed a lawsuit asking the city to stop collecting the telephone users tax, which relies on the federal excise tax. The measure voters cast ballots on Tuesday would remove that language from the ordinance and allow the city to keep collecting the tax.
Early returns showed Los Angeles voters overwhelmingly endorsed the city's telephone users tax measure, giving hope to city leaders that Measure S will pass and preserve $270 million a year in revenue.
With some 20 percent of precints counted, roughly two-thirds of voters supported Measure S, which re-writes the city's existing telephone tax to withstand legal challenges, according to results released after 11 p.m.
Measure S needs a simple majority to pass.
The measure reduces the tax rate from 10 percent to 9 percent, but expands the tax to include modern technology, such as Internet phone use.
"The early returns are promising, and we are hopeful that the trend continues," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. "Proposition S is critical to our efforts to keep crime at historic lows in this City, and we are encouraged the residents of Los Angeles are responding."
SHAME ON YOU VILLARMUGROSO!!!
SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
Villaraigosa, Bratton, got the power and they used it.
...In Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa thanked voters for supporting Proposition S but warned that the city faced dire financial straits even with the passage of the tax
YEAH..PROP 93 FAILED..
WHAT A GREEDY BASTARD. I HOPE THE COURT OVERTURNS THE PHONE TAX AND ALL THE SERVICE PROVIDERS FIGHT IT
where's the traffic? what happened to this site? Used to get thoughtful analysis on election night. I came here and this is all ya got? Boring...
TOTAL VOTES CAST
Clinton: 50.2% (7,347,971)
Obama: 49.8% (7,294,851)
PRETTY DAMN CLOSE AND TO THINK HILLARY HAD A EX PRESIDENT AND MAYOR OUT CAMPAIGNING FOR HER A LONG TIME AGO AND STILL COULDN'T BLOW OBAMA OUT OF THE WATER. IN FACT OBAMA IS STILL PICKING UP MOMENTUM
What's going to happen to the millions of illegals in LA who are going to get stuck with the Phone Tax?
They must have been the stupid ones who voted for it! That's what you get when you can't read, write or speak English!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
I wonder if one may deduct this tax off their State or Federal Returns?
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