Jerry Brown: Taxes Need to Be Raised, Services Cut, Belts Tightened (Arnold: real estate market, foreclosures)

[Hemlock140]

Coming from CA and still family there, we have been keeping an eye on this. Here in WA the last election saw the taxpayers stand fast and vote no on all proposals to increase the state revenue. The Governor's proposed budget has huge cuts in just about everything with the 4.6 billion shortage. There are 80 programs being eliminated, not having their budget cuts but totally gone. We won't even have a state presidential primary in 2012, too expensive a tradition (candidates are chosen by caucus)

[Ceece]

Originally Posted by bisjoe

Coming from CA and still family there, we have been keeping an eye on this. Here in WA the last election saw the taxpayers stand fast and vote no on all proposals to increase the state revenue. The Governor's proposed budget has huge cuts in just about everything with the 4.6 billion shortage. There are 80 programs being eliminated, not having their budget cuts but totally gone. We won't even have a state presidential primary in 2012, too expensive a tradition (candidates are chosen by caucus)

That's the way to do it. Programs need to be eliminated altogether and break everyones dependence on the state to provide them.

[BacktoBlue]

I like that Jerry brown is going to have Californians vote on it. He isn't just going to raise taxes without the voter approval.

[Reason42]

Originally Posted by BacktoBlue

I like that Jerry brown is going to have Californians vote on it. He isn't just going to raise taxes without the voter approval.

I will wait and see...

[LexusNexus]

Originally Posted by RCCCB

Brown, who pledged not to raise taxes without voters' sign-off, would face a daunting mid-March deadline to get his proposals onto a special-election ballot.

California faces a $28 billion budget shortfall - equivalent to nearly a third of the general fund. (I guess he doesn't want to acknowledge the 660 billion we don't have for pensions yet, he's trying to kick that can down the road for another time. This is going to be fun.)

Jerry Brown: Jerry Brown Tells Californians, "Taxes need to be raised, services cut and belts tightened." - ktla.com

A Democrat gets elected and of course you need your taxes raised. Anyone shocked by this?

It doesn't surprise me that taxes must be raised. It doesn't surprise me that Republicans offer worse solutions, empty rhetoric, divisive policies, and a racially insensitive narrative.

[Vascodagama]

Originally Posted by BacktoBlue

So let me get this straight Meg Whitman would have done better?!?!?!

Notice the article says "if" the people vote to approve tax increases or extensions (and they won't) then Brown will be prepared to cut more. I think Meg would cut much more without going to the people and cut taxes/fees to spur business growth. She probably would have addressed the 800 lb gorilla in the room ... those outrageous state salaries and pensions are unsustainable and must be drastically reduced.

[kettlepot]

Yes, that is the big question here, "if" the people approve of the tax increases. If the tax extensions are temporary, for a few years, people might approve them, but if his proposal is for making them permanent, that won't fly. Our state income and sales taxes are now among the highest in the nation. And even with Prop 13, our property taxes are only in the low middle.

The early years of the Gray Davis administration saw a lot of spending increases based on the false assumption that the Dot.Com bubble would last forever to pay for it. There are still substantial amounts of this added spending to be cut, especially salaries and pensions. The state prison guards got a notoriously lucrative deal - 8% yearly pay increases during the 2002 recession when unemployment was rising, inflation was 1%, and the budget was falling into deficit.

To truly balance the budget, Brown will have to have a "Nixon to China" moment and directly take on the Public Employee unions that are a core Democratic constituency. If that doesn't occur, the state will eventually go bankrupt.

Will Brown actually take on the Public Employee unions? No other Democrat in this state would have the spine to attempt it. Brown? Maybe... just maybe. However, to balance the state budget with more spending cuts than the $10 billion being proposed will probably split the state Democratic party. Partisan Democrats may find their party drawn into a fratricidal bloodbath. At the end, it may emerge stronger as a party of responsible budgeting now that being responsible will help a governor of their own party rather than a governor of the opposition, or it may descend into a fiasco of Brobdingnagian proportions that damages them for years.

[Curmudgeon]

Realistically, this is Jerry's last gasp unless he's real intent on a second term. If there was ever a time he could burn some bridges, this is it. He might, just might, do so for purposes of pragmatism, a legacy other than Moonbeam and what's best for California. It's going to be an interesting four years to watch!

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by RCCCB

Brown, who pledged not to raise taxes without voters' sign-off, would face a daunting mid-March deadline to get his proposals onto a special-election ballot.

California faces a $28 billion budget shortfall - equivalent to nearly a third of the general fund. (I guess he doesn't want to acknowledge the 660 billion we don't have for pensions yet, he's trying to kick that can down the road for another time. This is going to be fun.)

Jerry Brown: Jerry Brown Tells Californians, "Taxes need to be raised, services cut and belts tightened." - ktla.com

A Democrat gets elected and of course you need your taxes raised. Anyone shocked by this?

At this pont, it really is inevitable that some taxes need to be raised...even if the state really gets its act together in terms of being more business friendly, trimming the bloat, cutting pension benefits, etc...

It s*cks...but get ready for more of it at both the state & national level. I'm a Republican, but they, too have kicked the can down the road. There are few Reps. like Chris Christie, Gov. of NJ.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by nullgeo

A few months back, while the insanity of elections was nearing levels of manic-depression that would require sanitarium commitment of every Californian, I posted a thread suggesting that, however unpalatable, there was no way out of special taxes and levies to pump out the state bilges.

There isn't any magic trick. The best the state can do is apply the hurt to discretionary and unhealthy personal expenditures ... yes, sometimes known as a "sin" tax.

Just do it ... get 'er dun.

Sin taxes aren't going to cover it.

I do think we need food and health care reform, though. We need a health care system that does nutritional counseling and support instead of just giving people pills once they get chronic illnesses. That would save a lot of money in the long run.

I also don't think there should be food stamps given out for any kind of junk food. Let people buy that stuff with their own money...although maybe that reform needs to happen at the Federal level.