The Tax Man Cometh?

According to Governor Schwarzenegger's Education Secretary Alan Bersin (left) a tax increase might be in order to fund California's beleaguered education system. Bersin, the first high ranking administration official to publicly float the idea of a tax increase, did so in a speech to the California School Boards Association (CSBA) on December 1st - a release by the CSBA about Bersin's comments was posted yesterday on CSBA's website. According to the CSBA, Bersin said he is "eager and willing" to help find out "the conditions in which we can talk to Californians about increasing taxes." The LA Times covers this story under the headline "Gov. might consider tax hike, Aide says" - the full story here.

The timing of these comments coincides with the filing of initiative language to increase parcel taxes to funnel more money to schools - the subject of discussion here under the title Prop 13 Under Attack... Again!

This might be a shadow of things to come. Governor Schwarzenegger has rightly stated that California does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem. He has campaigned for election on a "no new taxes" pledge and he has regularly stated that California must learn to "live within its means."

As support for a tax increase is floated among senior aides to the Governor, he should consider the fate of President George Bush after he broke his own bold pledge, "Read my lips, no new taxes!"

The Administration may be wise enough to know that with over $5 billion in surplus funds going into the 2006-07 election year budget, it would be easier to do a "feel good" budget that does not increase taxes, does not cut spending and instead puts over to a future year the reckoning that must eventually be confronted. Administration support of a tax increase after the 2006 elections in 2007-08 is more likely.

Republicans in California should require the Governor to renew his pledge to engage in responsible budgeting and not raise taxes.