SACRAMENTO - Since his electiion to California's top spot, Governor Jerry Brown has been tyring to persuade Republicans to allow the electorate to vote on extension of the sales tax increase, vehicle license fees, and state income tax increase. The Republicans has been unwilling to allow another vote on the issue.
Today, Democrats used the authority voters gave them last year and passed a simple majority vote budget without a single Republican vote. This is only the second time in the past two decades that a state budget has been passed on time.
The budget package is a combination of cuts, taxes and accounting maneuvers including the sale/leaseback of several state buildings. Online retailers will now be required to collect sales taxes even if they are not based in California. Homeowners in fire-prone zones will have new fees imposed on them. Local sales taxes will be raised by .25 percent. The vehicle registration fee will be raised by $12. It cuts the state's court system by $150 million and higher education by $300 million.
The Democratic budget brought a quick response from Republicans. The District 2 Board of Equlization member and former assemblyman and senator George Runner issued the following statement:
“Make no mistake, this Democrat budget isn’t about solving California’s fiscal problems—it’s only goal is to ensure lawmakers keep their paychecks flowing.
“When voters last fall granted Democrats their wish of majority-vote budgets, they demanded lawmakers forfeit their pay if those budgets are not approved on-time. But it was never the voters’ intention for lawmakers to approve a sham budget simply to keep their paychecks coming.
“What’s worse is that to protect their own pay, Democrats are poised to sacrifice the paychecks of thousands of California small businesses known as affiliates. Up to 25,000 of these Internet entrepreneurs will lose their affiliate status if Democrats approve a so-called ‘Amazon tax.’ According to the Board of Equalization’s analysis, ‘termination of affiliate programs would have an adverse impact on state employment’ and ‘lead to lower revenues.’
“The dumbest idea of all is the Democrats’ plan to sell state buildings for one-time revenue. If lawmakers want real one-time dollars, they should consider my proposals to raise billions in revenue by (1) granting an interest and penalty holiday to spur collection of delinquent tax payments and (2) selling-off aging debts owed the state.”
Calfiornia Assembly Minority leader Connie Conway also expressed her concerns in the following statement:
“By standing united together as the last line of defense for California taxpayers, Republicans were able to stop Governor Brown’s massive $58 billion tax increase from becoming reality. This means that hard-working Californians will see much-needed tax relief on July 1st.
“It is disappointing to see Sacramento Democrats embrace the same reckless budgeting of years past. In our budget roadmap, Assembly Republicans showed that we can responsibly balance the budget and protect our priorities without raising taxes. We believe that the $7.4 billion in unanticipated tax revenue the state has taken in should be used to fund our classrooms and local law enforcement programs, not to grow government or facilitate the early release of dangerous criminals, as Democrats propose.
“The majority vote budget passed today also ignores the reforms that are essential to getting California back on track. It’s clear that our state will make little progress in solving its long-term budget problems until we adopt a strict spending limit, address our unfunded public employee pension obligations and pass pro-jobs reforms to get people working again. Republicans believe this should be the Legislature’s priorities in the months ahead.”
Governor Jerry Brown has 12 days to sign or veto the plan. His signature is not guaranteed as he has expressed concern in the past about the type of accounting maneuvers this budget contains. He has said he will continue to try to work with Republicans to get a budget more to his liking.
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