Free Republic

The pictures told the story. They were laughing, back slapping and sharing high fives all around. It could have been Butch Cassidy and the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang celebrating a successful train robbery. Only these were malefactors of another sort. They were members of the Legislature expressing their joy immediately after agreeing to make California taxpayers the most overburdened in the nation for at least the next two years. Lawmakers and the governor, who was equally eager to get his hands on the new tax revenue, sought to make the bitter medicine taste better by promising the new taxes were temporary --...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says enacting a spending control measure is "Job No. 1." But the committee charged with selecting what kind of measure should be put before voters appears deeply split. Schwarzenegger wants a spending control plan to prevent massive state budget deficits such as the one that helped drive former Gov. Gray Davis from office and to curb "autopilot" spending formulas that grow faster than tax revenue. Citizens to Save California, a business-led group aligned with the governor, has not yet decided whether to back a spending control similar to Schwarzenegger's plan or a tighter limit backed...