Taxes, Taxes: News on the Tax Front
The Sacramento Bee today is reporting various news on the tax front. As readers of this blog will know, there are three tax measures on the ballot: the governor’s plan which the Regents recently endorsed, the Molly Munger school tax (Prop 38), and a close-corporate loophole tax (Prop 39). Folk wisdom has it that where there are too many measures on the same subject, voters may reject all of them in confusion.
In part to overcome that confusion, the legislature passed a bill that effectively put the governor’s plan as the first initiative on the ballot (Prop 30). In order to do it by majority (not supermajority) vote, the bill was ostensibly made into a budget enactment by including a nominal $1,000 appropriation. This action was challenged in court by Munger – who feels her tax is being disadvantaged – and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. – which is anti-tax. Munger apparently dropped the challenge but the Jarvis group continued it. There will be a hearing today, it is reported in the Bee. See:
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/07/california-legislature-submits-its-own-defense-of-ballot-reordering-bill.html
It is clear that Munger has the money to run a campaign for her tax. Apparently, the supporters of the close-corporate loophole tax have some money, too. They took a full-page ad out in the Bee:
Sac Bee Ad – 7-26-12 – Final
The state Democratic Party endorsed the governor’s plan which is no surprise. It was less clear what it might do about the other two but it has now opposed the Munger tax and decided to be neutral on the third tax on corporate loopholes. See:
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/07/california-democratic-party-endorses-jerry-brown-tax-initiative.html
And there is also news related to the tobacco tax that narrowly lost on the ballot in June. A recount was requested and the result is to be reported today:
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/07/am-alert-yes-on-proposition-39-campaign-throws-down-gauntlet.html