Written by Andrew Morris
Out of the 50 states in the US, California has the highest tax rates across several categories, making it one of the most expensive places to live in the nation.
That said, it should follow that these high rates imposed on a population of almost 350 million people would result in high quality of services like roads, recreation, and state departments.
Yet the actions of state management are negligent at best, and illegal at worst. Three specific cases submitted to the state auditor expose the divergence from standard protocol to atrocious misuse of money and power.
The first scenario involves overpayment of California Department of Transportation (or Caltrans) employees from taxpayer’s money. An estimated $1.5 million in salary advances was withheld because the human resources department failed to notify the employees within a three-year span of these advances. The State Auditor stated, “Inefficiency and incompetency in Caltrans’ division of human resources contributed significantly to its failure to notify recipients and collect on the outstanding salary advances.”
The next case comes from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and its employees. According to the State Auditor, employees are running private tax businesses out of their offices; they even go as far as advertising their work in the Administration on his website for tax preparation and consultation. The Auditor added that he was “dishonest with CDTFA investigators when interviewed about his improper activities.
The final example comes from a Department of State Hospitals applicant who lied on his application, falsely stating he had the qualifications but still got the position. Following this, it was revealed that the hiring manager altered the process in order to give the applicant an unfair advantage.
These examples are testaments to the appalling management on the state level for hard-earned money across the population.
