CA: Key anti-tax groups like Prop. 57

Sac Bee ^ | 2/28/04 | Aurelio Rojas

[NormsRevenge]

As protectors of the public purse, California's leading anti-tax groups are doing something they wouldn't normally be expected to do - supporting Proposition 57, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $15 billion "economic recovery" bond.

Organizations like the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the California Taxpayers' Association typically dread bonds. Those they do endorse, they say, have to be dedicated to capital investments such as education or highways.

[NormsRevenge]

State Sen. Tom McClintock, right, with then-candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger in September, contends the anti-tax groups are being inconsistent in their support of the $15 billion bond measure.

Sacramento Bee file, 2003/John Decker

[NormsRevenge]

"(Proposition 57) reflects a road map out of the fiscal wilderness into which we were placed by the previous administration," said Jon Coupal, president of the association named for anti-tax crusader Howard Jarvis.

Coupal concedes his group would not be supporting the bond if it were sponsored by former Gov. Gray Davis, whose recall the group endorsed. The bond would replace a $10.7 billion borrowing package in the budget signed last summer by the former Democratic governor.

But Thom Babcock, president of the dissident Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers, said Proposition 57 "looks like the same plan."

"Nobody wants to rain on the new governor's parade," said Babcock, whose group sued the state last year, alleging Davis' budget violated the state constitution's ban against carrying a debt from one year to another.

"It's kind of difficult for Jon Coupal to be consistent when he sits on Arnold's (transition) committee."

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Let It Rain,, Let It Pour!!!!!

[Lizavetta]

No on Prop. 57 and every other stinking Prop on the ballot.

[NormsRevenge]

Editorial update (FRom the OC Register)

On Wednesday, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill announced that, according to the latest estimates, tax receipts are down by $1 billion from earlier estimates for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. She also said that, even if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $15 billion bond, Proposition 57, passes on March 2, the deficit for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, would be $7 billion.

But Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer "said that drop [in revenues] was more due to timing - the last day of January fell on a Saturday - than anything else," reported the San Francisco Chronicle.

However you look at it, it shows that the state needs to get serious about making serious spending cuts. Yet on Thursday the Assembly approved $1 billion in spending cuts for the current budget "through borrowing and fund shifts," reported the Sacramento Bee - that is, through gimmicks instead of real cuts.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

What a mess!

"I think a better alternative would be to cut, cut, cut," Coupal said. "And if the Legislature had a majority of Republicans, you'd see cuts."

Well, there is the real problem.... the legislature does have a majority of Demonic Rats......

[Austin Willard Wright]

Cop out. But Arnold has a veto pen, if he has the courage to use it.

[Amerigomag]

Other than vague rhetoric Schwarzenegger has offered no plan to reduce spending.

Take a look at his proposed method to finance the bonds.

1) Siphon away a percentage of sales tax from the cities.
2) Replace those revenues by shorting the counties on property taxes
3) Rob the general fund to replace the purloined property tax revenues.

What the hell is going on?

Schwarzenegger is not my father's definition of either a conservative or an ethical fellow.