Jerry Brown's tax hike in jeopardy

Sacramento Bee ^ | 10/14/12 | Dan Walters

[SmithL]

As he began his second governorship last year, Jerry Brown warned that California faced a potential "war of all against all" if the state budget was not fairly balanced, or as the former Catholic seminarian put it in Latin, "bellum omnium contra omnes."

Brown now has the war he didn't want as Proposition 30, the tax increase ballot measure upon which he has staked his governorship, and perhaps his place in political history, is hammered from the left and the right by two very wealthy siblings, Charles and Molly Munger.

Republican Charles, a Stanford University physicist, is giving millions to the anti-tax zealots who previously had only scarce funds to exploit Californians' low opinions of Sacramento's politicians and thwart Brown's $6 billion per year sales and income tax hike.

Liberal Molly, a civil rights attorney, had spent more than $30 million to promote her $10 billion income tax increase for schools, Proposition 38, but last week started pouring money into ads denouncing Brown's measure as a phony pitch to save education.

Brown knew going into the campaign that new taxes are a hard sell to California voters, especially during a lingering economic recession. But he successfully neutralized business groups and assumed that the anti-tax groups would have only a relatively tiny war chest to oppose him, while he had millions in union and corporate funds.

[Enterprise]

Jerry Brown and his tax hike can take a flying .... at the moon.

[South40]

Be it instate tuition and financial aid for ILLEGAL aliens, $1 billion tax on out of state corporations or $68 billion for a high speed rail that nobody wants, Brown and the leftist-lature waste every dime they already take and I see no reason to grant his/their request to take more.

[vbmoneyspender]

Republican Charles, a Stanford University physicist, is giving millions to the anti-tax zealots

Who knew that the Founding Fathers are still accepting political donations.

[Semperfiwife]

The high speed rail will dead end where Charles Manson is housed. If Brown was super savvy, he could sell tickets to Real Inmates of California. Of course with that bullet train close by, don’t be surprised the show we will watch is Prison Break.

[Bullish]

Sorry Jerry, you can't just raise taxes to pay for govt. union greed.
Even Californian's are smarter than that.

[SpaceBar]

It’s easy to see where the article is coming from when you get to the words “anti-tax zealots”.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I have the power of attorney over my 99 year old mom’s affairs and have had all of her mail forwarded to me in Wisconsin. She is a retired school teacher in California.

Last week I got her bulletin from the California Teacher’s Association (their union). So, I leafed through it. The centerpiece was a 4 page “command” for members of the CTA to vote for Obama and Biden and to vote for Brown’s Prop #30 and to vote against rival Prop #38. There were pages of favored candidates (all Dems) and propositions.

How disappointing that teachers, whom I once revered, would allow themselves to be led around by their noses by these unionistas.

[ridesthemiles]

Brown has also declared that in the very near future in California Universities, there will be no more printed taxtbooks.

There will only be ‘downloaded e-books and that the state would provide them for free.

I like a book. I still have my accounting textbooks & have referred to them in the past 35 years. I don’t like the idea that students will NOT be given a choice.

Another government mandate-—
You will do it OUR way or not at all.

Who is paying for all those E-readers & what happens when the battery goes dean at 3 AM before your final tests??

[ridesthemiles]

There is a good reason that 2000 people a week are fleeing California.

How many are producers?

[fifedom]

But he successfully neutralized business groups and assumed that the anti-tax groups would have only a relatively tiny war chest to oppose him, while he had millions in union and corporate funds.

This really pisses me off. When a tax that affects businesses is on the ballot, they come to the conservatives for help. But in cases like this, where they only act as a go-between and pass the tax on to consumers, they throw in with the Rats.

I think the reason is that the Chamber of Commerce types are afraid if this does no go through, then they will be directly in the gun sights.

Reminds me of the story of two people who are being chased by a bear, One of them says to the other, you know we can't outrun it don't you? The other says, no all I have to do is outrun YOU.