Thread: Billionaires to place $10-billion tax hike on CA.2012 ballot

Billionaires, insiders plan to place $10-billion tax hike on 2012 California ballot

Acting as the Think Long Committee, they want to change the tax system to increase money for public schools and universities and for local governments.

November 20, 2011

Reporting from Sacramento— Joining the battle over California taxes, a group of billionaires and political insiders say they will place a $10-billion tax increase on the November 2012 ballot.

The Think Long Committee, which includes Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, former governors Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles philanthropist Eli Broad, says its proposal would provide $5 billion more for public schools every year and billions for public universities and local governments.

Although the group has prepared a report outlining its proposals, it has not taken the preliminary steps needed to place the ideas before voters. Members have not filed any potential initiatives with the state attorney general's office or created a campaign committee to finance such an effort. A spokesman for Think Long said those moves would come in the next couple of weeks.

The group's plan is based on a reshuffling of California's tax system. It would lower the state's personal income and sales tax rates and create a new levy of more than 5% on services that are not currently taxed, such as legal work or accounting.

Think Long spokesman Nathan Gardels said members want to "maintain California's progressive tax system." Under their proposal, families earning up to $45,000 a year would pay no state income tax, while those making up to $95,000 annually would pay 2%. This would lower some taxpayers' obligations significantly.

The group also wants to double the current exemption for homeowners and renters on their state income tax and eliminate most other California income tax credits.

Taxpayer organizations have opposed similar ideas in the past. David Kline, a spokesman for the California Taxpayers Assn., said he could not comment without knowing the details of Think Long's plan, but he said that generally speaking, "we have some major issues with a tax on services and the impact that would have on businesses and consumers."

Gardels said the panel would proceed with its initiative plan despite potential opposition. Its wealthy members — who include three billionaires in Broad, Schmidt and committee founder Nicolas Berggruen — will pay for the expensive and arduous process of collecting enough signatures to qualify a proposal for the ballot, the spokesman said.

Berggruen has said publicly that he would commit $20 million of his personal wealth to getting a measure passed.

"The problem with most initiatives is funding," said Gardels. "That's not a problem this group will have."

Gov. Jerry Brown, who tried unsuccessfully to get higher sales, income and vehicle taxes on the ballot this year, has "had some conversations" with Think Long, said the governor's spokeswoman Elizabeth Ashford. But she said Brown had no immediate plans to endorse the group's proposal.

Labor unions, meanwhile, are preparing their own ballot proposal. It would raise income tax rates on high earners and increase the state sales tax to patch the $13-billion budget deficit that the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office has projected for the next fiscal year. A shortfall this year may trigger automatic cuts that could shave up to a week off the school year in some districts.

Josh Pechthalt, president of the California Federation of Teachers, said his group would push the labor proposal because the pending budget cuts underscore "a need for a revenue measure to be put on the budget for 2012."

All of this comes as Brown prepares his budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year. The governor must unveil the spending blueprint by Jan. 10. Democratic leaders in the Legislature say they will stand firm against any more reductions in state services.

"Over the last three years, we've done quite enough damage on the cut side, thank you," said Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento). "In the short run, I do not see making more cuts."

anthony.york@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 6114.story

Californians willing to pay higher taxes for better schools

Even in tough economic times, 64% in a USC Dornsife/L.A. Times Poll say they would shell out more for taxes to boost public-school funding.

By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times
November 19, 2011, 4:56 p.m.

A strong majority of California voters is willing to pay higher taxes to boost funding for public schools even in a grim economy, a new poll has found.

After three years of budget cuts that have battered schools with extensive teacher layoffs and deep cuts in art, music and other programs, 64% of those surveyed said they would shell out more for schools.

The consensus was broad, crossing both genders and all races, ages, regions, income and educational levels. One exception was conservative Republicans, with only 34% willing to pay more for schools. But 60% of Republicans who described themselves as moderate or liberal and three-fourths of Democrats said they would support such a move.

"I think we've reached a tipping point on the willingness of voters to pay more taxes" for schools, said Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, which co-directed the bipartisan poll for USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles Times. "Across party and ideology in tough times, to favor a tax increase on yourself is pretty impressive."

Laura Hurley, a Ventura County resident, was with the majority. She is a Republican and an older voter, belonging to two groups the poll showed were less inclined to back increases in their own taxes for more school spending. The 66-year-old bank retiree said she worries about cuts across the state's education system, with a niece anxious about keeping her teaching job and a son struggling with public university tuition hikes.

"I think it's awful," she said of the squeeze on schools. "Education is very important, and if we have to pay a little bit more, that's OK."

A majority of those polled said California's public schools were in bad shape, with two-thirds giving them a grade of C or below and about half saying they were getting worse. Respondents criticized funding shortages, wasteful spending on administration and bureaucratic barriers to innovation and reform.

About half supported the right of parents to demand, by majority vote, sweeping changes at low-performing schools. These could include reorganizing staff and curriculum, converting to charter schools or closing campuses altogether. Last year, California became the nation's first state to extend that right to parents in a law known as the Parent Trigger.

Voters were far more upbeat about their local schools than those statewide. The poll found that 64% said the campuses were doing an excellent or good job preparing their children or grandchildren for college.

Vance Fleming, a 53-year-old construction inspector near Fresno, said budget cuts in the Sierra Unified School District had hurt athletic, agricultural and foreign language programs. But he said his 13-year-old son is still managing to get a good education.

Fleming, who described himself as a conservative Republican, said he opposed tax hikes for schools until local education officials improve their financial management. He pointed to officials in his district who spent millions on what he called an unneeded "Taj Mahal" administration building.

"The public wants to make sure that any additional funding for education is being used effectively and goes directly to the classroom and not to more bureaucracy or administration, which they see as a greater problem than a lack of funds," said Republican pollster Linda DiVall of American Viewpoint, which co-directed the poll.

Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC, added that voters were most supportive of taxes for local needs. "Voters will pay more … as long as they are confident the money will be spent in their own communities."

Such sentiments could boost various efforts underway to qualify a school funding initiative for the November 2012 ballot. A report issued last week by the state Legislative Analyst's Office projected a $3.7-billion shortfall in the current budget, which could trigger more than $1 billion in cuts from kindergartens through high schools.

Aside from tax increases, voters expressed near-agreement on what else they would do to improve local schools. Substantial majorities said more parent involvement, smaller class sizes, more dollars directed to the classroom and apprenticeships for new teachers would help.

Most respondents said they've seen the effects of the funding crisis in their schools: bigger classes, fewer arts programs and more out-of-pocket spending for supplies.

David Garcia, a 21-year-old Democrat and Ventura College student, said cuts in high school counselors had contributed to several classmates' falling off track and dropping out of school. He said he would be willing to shell out more taxes to improve schools — even though he makes minimum wage at a smoothie shop.

Glendale mom Ellen DeAngelis, who moved her sons from private to public schools this year, said she is surprised to see how much teachers rely on parent donations for copy paper, tissues and markers. "These are all staples you expect to see in the classroom," said the 46-year-old Democrat and civil servant.

She, too, is receptive to higher taxes and represents the group most supportive of the idea: white mothers, who backed the proposal by 89%.

Linda, a 61-year-old Temecula Republican who declined to give her last name, said she was particularly perturbed by cuts in physical education, which she regards as key to children's health. Although she told pollsters she opposed tax hikes for schools, she said in an interview that she would "absolutely" support them if the dollars went to the classroom. "As a society, we have to find a way to take care of our kids," she said.

The survey polled 1,500 registered California voters Oct. 30-Nov. 9. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.52 percentage points.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 1051.story

Raise taxes , so they can spend more? Haven't they already spent more than they had?

Until they get rid of the public school unions it won't matter how much money they throw at it they will not get better schools. Why do so many people think that money is always the answer.

Catch up on Think Long's California tax overhaul

The Think Long Committee for California is rolling out a sweeping proposal for fixing the Golden State, and it includes overhauling the tax system.

• Read the full Think Long report here. (draft obtained by the Bee) http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlat ... NALTLC.pdf

It's no small change. Californians would pay sales tax on all services except health care and education starting in July 2013, as The Bee's Torey Van Oot and Kevin Yamamura explained in Sunday's Bee.

The big name, bipartisan coalition also hopes to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would set up an independent state commission tasked with long-term planning. Think Long officially unveils its 22-page proposal this morning.

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlat ... z1eMIjKo4w

All that BS is to feed the illegals.

Scanning over the plan it seems like simply shifting the tax burden around. At the end of it all they admit they do not even address the single largest problem faced by California and the rest of the country. Public service worker pensions and benefits.
This ought to sell really well with the masses, We will tax you less and give you more. Works every time.