Michael Hiltzik
June 15, 2009
The most persistent misconception about Californians is that we hate to raise taxes. The truth is that we adore raising taxes — as long as someone else is paying, that is. So nonsmokers vote to raise cigarette taxes, teetotalers to raise liquor taxes. The middle and working classes want to hike taxes on the rich, who are happy to return the favor. Yet this only compounds the mystery of why we’re so resistant to raising taxes on perhaps the biggest, fattest target of all: the oil industry. Read more…