Posted on 06/19/2002 2:52:51 AM PDT by snopercod
Groups call for tax hike on top earners
To help preserve human service programs in next year's state budget, a broad coalition called upon lawmakers
Monday to embrace legislation that would increase state income taxes collected from the most wealthy
Californians.
In a Capitol press conference with more than 100 in attendance including union representatives and advocates
for the poor participants stood behind a controversial proposal by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton of
San Francisco that would temporarily increase personal income taxes on the top 2 percent of California wage
earners.
Aimed at partially bridging the state's $23.6 billion shortfall, the proposal by Burton, a Democrat, could
generate an estimated $3.1 billion, offsetting some of the $7.6 billion in proposed cuts to health, education
and a host of other "vital" programs in the 2002-03 state budget, which takes effect July 1.
Scott Anderson, executive director of the California Council of Churches, said his and the other 125 groups
that gathered at Monday's press conference are opposed to balancing the state's $98.9 billion budget on the
backs of working families, seniors, children and people living with disabilities.
"Why can't the people who can afford it the most share in the solution?" Anderson asked. "The budget
should not be balanced at the expense of the most vulnerable Californians."
Reinstating the top income tax brackets would help "maintain the progress made in recent years toward
improving our schools and ensuring children and their families have adequate health care," said Jan Harp
Domene, president of the California State Parent Teacher Association.
Burton's proposal Senate Bill 1255 is similar to tax increases imposed on the rich under former
Republican Govs. Ronald Reagan in 1967 and 1971, and Pete Wilson again in 1991.
"We've all been through this before. We call upon the legislature and the governor to follow (Reagan's and
Wilson's) lead in balancing this year's budget so we have the resources needed to maintain our investment in
the future," Harp Domene said.
Specifically, SB 1255 would reinstate the 10- and 11-percent personal income tax brackets, which affect
married filers with taxable incomes over $260,000 and single taxpayers with incomes over $130,000.
Restoring the top-tier tax brackets to their 1995 levels, as Burton's proposal seeks, would affect 2.4
percent of taxpayers, supporters say. Taxpayers, they say, could deduct any increase on their federal tax
filings.
The average tax increase, minus the federal tax deduction, would be approximately $7,674, according to
estimates provided by the California Budget Project, which lobbies for the poor.
"A tax on higher-income families is better than spending reductions in many cases," said the group's
executive director, Jean Ross, adding that increasing taxes on the rich would be "the least potentially
harmful tax increase on the economy."
To help plug the state's historically large budget shortfall, Davis has already proposed $3.5 billion in
tax increases, including a 50-cent per-pack increase on cigarettes and a roll-back of Vehicle Licensing Fee
rebates, which could double car registration fees.
Those and Burton's proposal have garnered stiff opposition from Republicans who warn that they will not
support a budget plan that contains tax increases, potentially putting Democrats, who control both houses of
the Legislature, in a precarious position this election year.
Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga said the state's recession-wracked budget should be
balanced with a combination of spending cuts and delays in planned program expansions, adding that his caucus
will not support a soak-the-rich tax.
"We don't need to raise taxes because that will not stop the problem," Brulte said. "We need to stop
spending at these historically high rates."
-- Chris Rizo can be reached at (916) 449-9006.
(Sorry for the funky formatting. The focus software seems to have changed somehow)
Doesn't California have a punative estate tax?
During your lifetime, you pay about 40-50% of your income in taxes and then if you are successful, the state and federal governments want over half of the balance.
You are nothing but a chattel. A far cry from the English serfs who only had to put up with a 15% tax.
C'mon, all you bleeding heart liberals--cough up some dough to help the poor, starving folks right in your own back yard. Babs, Steven, Rob Reiner, Whoopi, Rosie, put your money where your mouth is.
Mostly because they didn't have a share in creating the problem. When California quits coddling and encouraging illegal aliens to avail themselves of the state's public benefits, then the people will know the state is serious about finding a solution to the budget crisis. Until then, no one should feel compelled to give another dime.
At some point, wealthy Californians will bolt the state (like Matt Drudge did) if they keep getting fleeced. Atlas will shrug.
Better for whom?
If a punitive tax is levied on the California rich, much of the people effected will be in the entertainment industry. Since this is the core of the Clinton Democrats, a high tax might push them into the waiting arms of the libertarians.
Just a thought.
Exactly.
My college room-mate lives in California. He told me that the seeds of the next depression are to be found here. When the capitalists leave, they take their capital and their businesses with them. The jobs follow the business. All that is left behind is the real estate and mountains of debt that will be liquidated at enormous losses. That is deflation in a nutshell.
It is going to start in Kalifornia and spread to the east coast, and then to the rest of America. Japan is already beginning to export it to Asia and to some extent to America as well. Look for GM and Ford to encounter falling sales and lower prices as the Japanese attempt to export themselves out of their existing predicament. It will spread from Japan and the US to the rest of the world.
Greenspan and the other G3 central bankers will print money galore in response. Governments will fall and be replaced. Ours will be among them. But out of the ashes, we should see the secessions of states that form smaller republics with Constitutions patterned after the one we currently ignore. Hopefully, some these will be freer and great places to live.
My advice to Californians, is get out now and avoid the rush and its aftermath.
We owe our opposition no more civility than they have given us.
ROTFLMAO. Another leftist moron who believes that the "rich" don't respond to economic incentives like lower taxes in neighboring states.
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