l******a
发帖数: 3803 | 1 California Voters: Please Tax Us
By Karen Weise on November 07, 2012
five million Californians may have a message for you: Don’t be afraid of
raising taxes to rescue the budget. In Tuesday’s election, 54 percent of
California voters approved Proposition 30, a $6 billion tax hike that staves
off dire spending cuts. If the measure had failed, trigger reductions would
have forced schools and community colleges to trim their budgets by $5.3
billion and made the state’s colleges and universities cut $500 million.
Governor Jerry Brown staked his legacy on Prop. 30, betting that when
consequences are clear, people are willing to pay.
Because of the automatic cuts that would have occurred, “this is the
California equivalent of sequestration at the national level,” John Ellwood
, a state budget expert at University of California, Berkeley, told me last
month. Sequestration—aka the fiscal cliff—will trigger $600 billion in U.S
. tax hikes and spending cuts in 2013 if Congress can’t reach a debt deal.
Republicans have been rejecting any tax increases, while some Democrats
oppose reforming entitlements. California’s case can provide an example
that after lots of spending cuts, which California has embraced over the
past few years, voters may be willing to fork over more money to keep
government services running. “You can’t simply get more efficient” and
trim spending more, Ellwood said; at some point, additional taxes must be on
the table.
Prop. 30′s passage wasn’t a sure thing. As we reported two weeks ago, the
measure had been polling in the mid-to-high 50 percent range for many months
. But as the election neared, Prop. 30 was squeezed on both the right and
the left by a nearly $90 million threat from a pair of wealthy siblings
whose father, Charlie Munger, has been vice chairman of Warren Buffett’s
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK/A) for 30-plus years. Charles Munger Jr. gave $45
million to a pro-business political action committee that opposed Prop. 30,
according to data compiled by the Los Angeles Times. His half-sister, Molly
Munger, fronted $44 million to bankroll her own competing tax hike-for-
education proposition, according to Times data. Molly Munger’s proposition
would have raised a greater sum from taxes over a longer period of time, but
when her campaign turned negative, it created confusion among voters. (In
California, people can vote in favor of competing propositions; if both pass
, whichever has more votes is declared the winner.)
Brown stepped up his stumping efforts for the measure, but in the week
before the election, the statewide Field Poll showed (PDF) that just 48
percent of likely voters supported it. Typically in the state, a measure
with less than majority support in the polls will be voted down by voters.
In the end, Brown’s measure got enough votes to prevail, and 72 percent of
voters rejected Munger’s initiative. That means Californians have agreed to
pay a 0.25 percentage-point increase in the sales tax for four years and
have undertaken to hike income taxes on those with more than $250,000 in
yearly income (those over $500,000 take a 3 percent increase) for seven
years.
Prop. 30 is not a savior. The state still faces an additional $8.1 billion
in spending cuts (PDF) to such programs as Medi-Cal and welfare-to-work in
order to close a $16.6 billion budget gap. Even Prop. 30′s supporters admit
that it merely restores California education spending to where it was a few
years ago. But Prop. 30 does prevent further dramatic cuts, like
universities trimming enrollments and school districts shaving weeks off the
school year.
Thad Kousser, an associate professor of political science at UC San Diego,
told me last month that the conditions for Brown’s proposition were “the
best-case scenario for a tax increase” because “the stakes are clear.”
With that clarity, California voted to tax themselves.
Weise is a reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek in New York. | m********g
发帖数: 10469 | | N********n
发帖数: 8363 | 3
This will only drive more business outta California to other states
and less revenue for these suckers when they need it the most.
【在 l******a 的大作中提到】
: California Voters: Please Tax Us
: By Karen Weise on November 07, 2012
: five million Californians may have a message for you: Don’t be afraid of
: raising taxes to rescue the budget. In Tuesday’s election, 54 percent of
: California voters approved Proposition 30, a $6 billion tax hike that staves
: off dire spending cuts. If the measure had failed, trigger reductions would
: have forced schools and community colleges to trim their budgets by $5.3
: billion and made the state’s colleges and universities cut $500 million.
: Governor Jerry Brown staked his legacy on Prop. 30, betting that when
: consequences are clear, people are willing to pay.
| m******s
发帖数: 612 | 4 great. Even you earn more in Cal, the living quality is dropping. | e*******e
发帖数: 9616 | 5 我们外州人现在一听加州就摇头。
连我的小学生儿子（每天看半小时全国新闻）都知道加州不能去。
【在 N********n 的大作中提到】
:
: This will only drive more business outta California to other states
: and less revenue for these suckers when they need it the most.
| w******g
发帖数: 2047 | 6 这个是不是多数不浇水的人决定要提高纳税人的税
【在 e*******e 的大作中提到】
: 我们外州人现在一听加州就摇头。
: 连我的小学生儿子（每天看半小时全国新闻）都知道加州不能去。
| u**c
发帖数: 17972 | 7 what the fuck,昨晚不是有人能说这个法案被拒了吗？
staves
would
【在 l******a 的大作中提到】
: California Voters: Please Tax Us
: By Karen Weise on November 07, 2012
: five million Californians may have a message for you: Don’t be afraid of
: raising taxes to rescue the budget. In Tuesday’s election, 54 percent of
: California voters approved Proposition 30, a $6 billion tax hike that staves
: off dire spending cuts. If the measure had failed, trigger reductions would
: have forced schools and community colleges to trim their budgets by $5.3
: billion and made the state’s colleges and universities cut $500 million.
: Governor Jerry Brown staked his legacy on Prop. 30, betting that when
: consequences are clear, people are willing to pay.
| h*******u
发帖数: 15326 | 8 好啊
工作都转到东海岸，加州左棍吃福利
staves
would
【在 l******a 的大作中提到】
: California Voters: Please Tax Us
: By Karen Weise on November 07, 2012
: five million Californians may have a message for you: Don’t be afraid of
: raising taxes to rescue the budget. In Tuesday’s election, 54 percent of
: California voters approved Proposition 30, a $6 billion tax hike that staves
: off dire spending cuts. If the measure had failed, trigger reductions would
: have forced schools and community colleges to trim their budgets by $5.3
: billion and made the state’s colleges and universities cut $500 million.
: Governor Jerry Brown staked his legacy on Prop. 30, betting that when
: consequences are clear, people are willing to pay.
| m********g
发帖数: 10469 | 9 没工作了，小左和癌细胞一样也会四出扩散，比如go德州
【在 h*******u 的大作中提到】
: 好啊
: 工作都转到东海岸，加州左棍吃福利
:
: staves
: would
| b*****d
发帖数: 61690 | 10 好像是有两个加税法案。另一个被defeated.
【在 u**c 的大作中提到】
: what the fuck,昨晚不是有人能说这个法案被拒了吗？
:
: staves
: would
| c*****m
发帖数: 4817 | 11 re，多数人对少数人的暴政
【在 w******g 的大作中提到】
: 这个是不是多数不浇水的人决定要提高纳税人的税
| p****x
发帖数: 1376 | 12 老墨老黑转战东北，表示压力不大，搬家费还得国家出
【在 h*******u 的大作中提到】
: 好啊
: 工作都转到东海岸，加州左棍吃福利
:
: staves
: would
|
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