Cigarette Tax Initiative: More Ballot Box Budgeting
Former state senate president pro-tem Don Perata, bicycle racing champion Lance Armstrong and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa kicked off their campaign for a new cigarette tax initiative in Los Angeles yesterday. Unfortunately, it is another example of ballot box budgeting in which revenues are limited for specific purposes with little oversight from outside agencies.
Multiple ballot measures directing how tax dollars can be spent have taken away the ability of the legislature to respond to changing fiscal problems. In fact, one item Governor Jerry Brown wants to see on a special election ballot this summer is a measure to ask voters to take a billion dollars from a segregated tobacco tax fund for childhood development that the voters created by initiative in 1998 and place it in the general fund to deal with the budget deficit.
The new tobacco tax initiative has qualified for the next ballot, whether that is Brown’s special election or a later scheduled election if the special election does not come off. The initiative proponents want to get an early jump on the campaign in case there is a special election.
L. A. Chamber Supports Gov. Brown’s Proposal for a Special Election in June
The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce announced Friday at a news conference its endorsement
of Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to hold a special election in June to address
the State budget crisis with an equal combination of spending cuts and a
temporary extension of the tax increases put into place two years ago.
We believe that Gov. Brown’s proposal to combine dramatic budget
reductions with a temporary extension of higher rates on the State income tax,
sales tax and the motor vehicles registration fee is fiscally responsible.
Our first choice was to address the deficit through spending cuts only.
As we discussed this option at length, we simply did not feel that the basic
infrastructure of our State could be maintained if $25 billion in budget cuts
were put into place at this time. We know that extending the tax increases will
have a short-term negative impact on our members and the economy, but not as
negative as the dramatic reduction in education, infrastructure and social
services that would come from a $25 billion budget cut.
Time for Taxpayers to Take a Seat at the Table
A recent editorial cartoon sums up the tension between average taxpayers and government employee unions. It shows two guys sitting at a bar. One, head in hand and looking glum, is labeled “public sector” and he says to his companion, “They’re trying to cut our pensions…” The other fellow, labeled “private sector,” replies, “What’s a pension?”
If this bar is in California – where the official unemployment rate is 12.5 percent not including those who have completely given up looking for work – Mr. Private Sector might also ask, “What’s a job?”
Over time, how much of the public views those who work for government has changed from “respected civil servants” to “militant special interest” dedicated to preserving and expanding their “entitlements” at any cost to taxpayers. In this case, perception is reality.
Tax or spend? The final chapter
This perspective on the California Budget, written by Debra Saunders, was published today in the San Francisco Chronicle.
I am reluctant to join the chorus of scolds who chide Republicans for opposing Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to put a tax-increase extension on a special election ballot in June.
But I will join the chorus, though first I must point out that GOP Assembly members and senators didn’t spend California to the brink of ruin. The Democrats and nominally Republican former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger share that honor.
I also am reluctant to blame the GOP because I believe that the necessary two GOP votes from both the Assembly and Senate will materialize.