Less Wages, More Taxes: Nunez Wants 6% Tax on Oil

UPDATE: It already died in Assembly, like Nuckelhead Nunez's political career and all the hopes and aspirations he carried with him.

What a great time to ask people to pay more for oil, when you are spending more money on wine, cheese and travel than P. Diddy! Tack on trash collection fees, bulky item fees, Prop S (cell phone tax), Gang Money Parcel Tax, and whatever else they have up their sleeve -- and who do you think you are fooling. People will no longer be able to afford to show up for work.

From Sacramento Bee (Cause local LA newspapers suck!)

Assembly Speaker Fabian "Knucklhead" Núñez has introduced a bill to divert some of the oil industry's profits to protect teachers from layoffs.

The disgraced, outgoing California Assembly Speaker is proposing levying a 6 percent tax on all oil produced within the state and imposing a 2 percent tax on windfall oil profits to protect teachers from layoffs.

Núñez, a Los Angeles Democrat with close ties to education unions, is proposing a two-pronged approach by levying a 6 percent tax on all oil produced within the state, and imposing a 2 percent tax on windfall oil profits.

Together, the taxes would generate an estimated $1.2 billion a year for a cash-strapped state that still faces an $8 billion deficit for the fiscal year starting in July. Under the speaker's bill, ABX 9, oil tax revenues would be dedicated for schoolteachers, who are facing potential layoffs under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's across-the-board budget cuts.

The idea isn't new. Voters in 2006 rejected Proposition 87, which would have imposed a per-barrel tax of up to 6 percent of the value of oil produced in the state.

The bill, which requires a two-thirds vote, is expected to taken up by the Democratic-controlled Assembly this week, but was expected to fail. Assembly Republicans, who killed a governor-led effort to close a tax break for purchasers of yachts, recreational vehicles and planes, have vowed to oppose new taxes.

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