Our state budget is in a chronic state of disrepair that threatens our future fiscal health. While pressure build to cut programs, we must protect spending for education and those most in need. (The greatest way to fix the budget, of course, is to increase economic activity. For specific solutions, please see Dominic Caserta's Economic Policy paper.) Part of the answer lies in cutting bureaucratic costs and aggressively seeking new sources of revenue. As a Santa Clara City Council Member, Dominic took some of the steps below to help the city balance its budget.

To address California's chronic budget woes, Dominic proposes:

• Raising revenue through several sources including, restoring the vehicle licensing fee, increasing highway signage fees for gas stations, restaurants, etc., to market conditions, and closing tax loopholes -- such as the infamous yacht loophole -- that benefit only upper-income earners.
• Reducing expenses and increasing efficiency by shifting more data storage from paper to electronic databases (the savings in medical records alone would be enormous).
• A statewide audit to identify waste and eliminate unnecessary programs.
• Establishing a "rainy day" account for when the state is suffering deficits.
• Making permanent research-and-development tax credits for the manufacturing sector and high-tech companies.

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