Tax is no longer a dirty, three-letter word. Its eonomy weak and its budget in tatters, California is fielding numerous ballot proposals to raise revenue. Income, sales, corporation, commercial property taxes -- all are on the table. So many, in fact, that sorting them all out will take some time. Capitol Weekly's Greg Lucas tells the tale.
"Five groups and counting – including Gov. Jerry Brown – aim to help California by convincing voters next November to approve billions in tax increases."
"It’s difficult to say how many of the nearly 15 million Californians who file state tax returns would be digging into their wallets – and how deeply – if all of the measures pass, despite that being an unlikely prospect. Even examined separately, the billions add up quickly."
"The latest iteration of the Democratic governor’s revenue plan, which he is expected to unveil within the next few days, boosts taxes on Californians earning $500,000 or more and ratchets up the sales tax by half a cent to raise more than $6 billion."
"Billionaire Nicolas Berggruen’s Think Long Committee would reduce income taxes but expand the sales tax to include services like dry cleaning, auto repair and accounting. Even with a $4.5 billion fund to “rebate” lower income Californians for the bigger sales tax bite they’ll take, the plan contemplates a net revenue gain for the state of some $10 billion. Another proposal, this one by the Advancement Project, a Los Angeles based nonprofit, would boost state income taxes, with those in higher brackets shouldering more of the increase. That would pour as much as $10 billion into public school classrooms and preschool programs."
California State University officials have canceled a meeting next week at which they were supposed to consider salary increases for campus presidents. The reason: The threat of violence and protests. The fiscal policies of CSU -- and UC, too -- relating to administrative pay hikes continues to mystify the Capitol, and the schools' own students.
From the Chronicle's Nanette Asimov: "Fearing violence, California State University trustees will cancel next week's vote on salaries for campus presidents, they said Wednesday - the same day a state senator criticized the University of California regents for handing out state-funded raises of up to 22 percent to some of UC's best-paid executives."
"Time and time again, rather than protecting the needs of students and California families, the regents and trustees line the pockets of their top executives," Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, said Wednesday after learning that the pay raises were among the actions taken by the regents in a Monday teleconference protested by students on campuses around the state."
"Yee's assessment echoed that of thousands of student protesters who have joined the Occupy movement in recent weeks and likened university leaders to Wall Street fat cats for paying themselves more money even as they consistently raise tuition."
Tax plans aren't the only items vying for the 2012 ballot. Familiar issues, issues that voters have dealt with before in varying forms, are coming back for another turn.
From Capitol Weekly's Cindy Baker: "Doesn’t it seem like Californians just did this? Merely a year after voters passed judgment on taxes, budgeting, redistricting, environmental funding, local powers and other hot-button questions, some of the same issues are back – in spades. Different titles, different alignments, different political landscape, but somehow still the same."
"And now more than ever, the courts are involved, which often means headaches for politicians and the public alike. Warning: You might want an aspirin."
"Familiar issues are popping up: Drug use and distribution, the dismantling or overhaul of government agencies, statewide environmental analyses, individual medical disclosure rights, regulations governing organized labor and drastic changes to public pensions - all proposals pushed by their proponents toward the ballot."
Gov. Brown named two new members of the CalSTRS' governing board with decades of experience in law and financial firms, a move he hopes will help push forward his pension-reform plans.
From CalPensions' Ed Mendel: "Michael Lawson, 58, of Los Angeles, has been an associate and partner at the Skadden Arps law firm from 1980 to this year. He was a staff attorney at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation from 1975 to 1980. The Harvard Law School graduate serves on the board of Morehouse College and the Advancement Project."
"Paul Rosenstiel, 61, of San Francisco, is a principal at De La Rosa & Co. Investment Bankers. He was deputy state treasurer from 2007 to 2009 and public finance director for First Boston from 1986 to 1995 before originally joining De La Rosa. The Stanford MBA is chairman of the California Budget Project and a board member of the USC Keston Institute for Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy."
"The appointments require Senate confirmation and the compensation is a $100 expense payment per meeting. The terms of three of the 12 CalSTRS board members expire this month."