Brown May Use Signature Drive to Put California Tax Increase to a Vote
California Governor Jerry Brown
Jonathan Alcorn/Bloomberg
Jerry Brown, Governor of California, said he is willing to take the matter of whether to extend higher tax rates to the state's voters in a ballot initiative.
Jerry Brown, Governor of California, said he is willing to take the matter of whether to extend higher tax rates to the state's voters in a ballot initiative. Photographer: Jonathan Alcorn/Bloomberg
California Governor Jerry Brown
Ken James/Bloomberg
Jerry Brown, governor of California.
Jerry Brown, governor of California. Photographer: Ken James/Bloomberg
California Governor Jerry Brown said he’s willing to gather signatures for a voter initiative to extend $11 billion in expiring tax increases, blocked by Republican lawmakers, in order to balance the state’s budget.
Brown, speaking in Los Angeles yesterday, said he may bypass the Legislature and go through the ballot measure process to put the issue to a statewide vote, though he’d prefer that lawmakers act.
“We are going to put it before the people one way or another,” the 73-year-old Democrat said in an interview. When asked if it might be placed on the ballot as soon as November, he nodded.
Brown, who was governor from 1975 to 1983, took office in January vowing to fix the fiscal strains that have left California with the biggest state deficit, and the lowest credit rating from Standard & Poor’s. The governor worked with lawmakers to reduce the $26.6 billion budget shortfall to about $15 billion through cuts to health care, education and other programs.
The linchpin of his plan would fill $11 billion of the remaining gap by getting voter approval of a five-year extension of tax and fee increases due to expire by July 1. The proposal fell short when Republican lawmakers withheld support.
Brown has since been traveling up and down California, the most populous state, trying to persuade at least two Republicans each in the Senate and Assembly to change positions, which would be enough to allow a vote.
Fixing the Deficit
A statewide survey by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California released yesterday found that 61 percent of likely voters favor Brown’s approach to fixing the deficit with a mix of spending cuts and temporary tax increases, though they oppose certain income- and sales-taxes that are part of the plan. The poll had a margin for error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
The governor wants to retain increases of 0.25 percentage point in personal income-tax rates; 1 percentage point in the retail-sales levy, to 8.25 percent; 0.5 percentage point in auto-registration fees, to 1.15 percent of a vehicle’s value; and a reduction in the annual child tax credit to $99 from $309.
Unions such as the California Federation of Teachers have indicated they may gather signatures to put a measure on a statewide ballot seeking higher taxes on the wealthy.
Brown got a standing ovation yesterday at the California State Parent Teacher Association’s convention in Long Beach when he said he would not support reduced spending on schools.
‘You’ve Got a Friend’
“I want you to know you’ve got a friend, an ally and a partner as we go forward together,” he said.
Leaving the podium, he held up a sign he was handed that read, “Cuts Hurt Kids.”
Later in the day, Brown spoke at a ceremony held by the Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute of Public Affairs based at California State University, Los Angeles. The nonpartisan think- tank was named after his father, who was California’s governor from 1959 to 1967.
“My father was a builder, he liked the public sector, he didn’t mind paying taxes,” Brown said.
In his father’s day, inheritance taxes ate up 55 percent of an estate, Brown said. “I didn’t get my 55 percent,” he said. “And you know what, I’m glad somebody got it.”
-0- Apr/29/2011 05:23 GMT
-0- Apr/29/2011 05:41 GMT
To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles at cpalmeri1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net
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