Kudos, California lawmakers, you did right by taxpayers by giving rebates

Good news for millions of California taxpayers: The state is giving you a rebate.

Thanks to a $97 billion budget surplus, the largest in state history, Golden State lawmakers voted l week to send about $9.5 billion back to Californians.

The rebates rightly are designed to give more to those who need it most: 14.2 million tax filers who have incomes up to $75,000 (single)/$150,000 (joint). Those folks will get $350 per filer, plus an additional $350 if they have at least one dependent. So that means a couple making minimum wage with two kids would get $1,050.

That’s significant money, especially when gas is over $6 a gallon.

But the Legislature also appropriately is returning funds to people who earn more. 2.1 million filers with incomes between $75,000 and $125,000 (single) /$150,000 to $250,000 (joint) will get  $250 per tax filer, plus an additional $250 for a dependent(s). So a single working parent earning $76,000 with twins would get $500.

In California, $76,000 doesn’t go so far, especially if one is supporting a family.

Taxpayers above that — single filers making between $125,000 and $250,000, couples between $250,000 and $500,000 —would get $200 per person, plus $200 for any dependent(s). Could they live without it? Certainly, but folks in this bracket have been cut out of almost every other government rebate or credit recently, and it’s time they received something as well.

Could lawmakers have done more? Maybe. The budget is full of millions for important initiatives like homelessness, not to mention pet projects around the state, from Palm Springs’ Plaza Theatre to the CSUSB Palm Desert student center. Such line items can look like pork from far away, but somehow when they’re in your backyard, the bacon smells pretty delicious.

Some critics say by putting more money in people’s pockets, the move could stoke inflation at a time when the Federal Reserve is trying to fight it. We’re not worried about that. At most, it’s going to cover 10 to 15 tanks of gas per family.

We do hope California can efficiently administer the rebates — expected in October — and prevent fraud. If only we had the estimated $20 billion that state officials say was scammed from our Employment Development Department during the COVID-19 pandemic, we could give everyone three times what they’re slated to get by Halloween.

Politicians on the right have tried to make hay over the Legislature’s decision not to halt the scheduled 3-cent increase in the gas tax that went into effect on Friday. But do the math and you’ll find out that’s more about political points than actually helping California drivers.

The 3-cent per gallon increase would cost a motorist $200 once he or she had purchased 6,666 gallons. The average American uses somewhere around 600 gallons per year. So the rebates will help people much more quickly, and the slight increase in the gas tax will help cover what are indubitably going to be more expensive road projects in the years ahead as inflation continues.

California’s gravy train is unlikely to last long — a good bit of this year’s budget surplus was driven by outsized gains taxpayers reaped in 2021 as the stock market surged. Now that that’s cooling off, the state’s fiscal picture could shift quickly for the worse.

So go ahead and spend your rebate if you need to — or save it for a rainy day. You just might need it to cover a tax increase not so far down the road.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: California lawmakers did right by taxpayers by giving rebates