LAT: California Democrats Propose Income Tax Hike

[DeepModem Mom]

Democrats Propose Income Tax Hike
New rates aimed at rich Californians would close budget gap and bring more money to schools.

By Evan Halper, Times Staff Writer


SACRAMENTO — Democrats in the Assembly on Tuesday proposed raising taxes on high-income Californians to close the state's multibillion-dollar budget shortfall and bring more money to schools.

Democrats announced the idea of an income tax hike on single taxpayers earning more than $143,000 a year and couples earning more than $285,000 as part of their alternative to the $115.7-billion budget drafted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. His proposed spending plan would withhold billions of dollars schools are owed under voter-approved funding guarantees that he and the Legislature suspended last year.

The proposed tax increase, which would raise an estimated $1.8 billion a year, suggests bruising negotiations ahead with the governor, who has flatly declared he will not agree to any new taxes.

The Legislature's deadline for approving a budget for fiscal 2005-06 is June 15, and Schwarzenegger has until the end of the month to sign it. Those deadlines have rarely been met in recent years, leading to disruption in state payments to school districts, local governments and vendors — and frustration among voters.

In addition to proposing a tax hike, the Democrats' budget rejects the governor's plans to cut the salaries of in-home care workers for the disabled. It also restores cost-of-living increases in state payments to low-income seniors and the state's contribution to the retirement fund for public-school teachers....


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-budget1jun01,0,6959503.story?coll=la-home-local

[bemildred]

1. LOL. Get ready for the threats and outrage. nt

[ananda]

2. what!!

What!? The rich paying a little more in taxes?!!

Sounds good to me. Put that in your smipe and poke it, Mr. Schwarzenegger.

Sue

[Warpy]

3. The rich are going to have to start coughing it up again.

and trust me, they're going to scream bloody murder. Since they're still screaming about the lowest taxes they've ever had, we might as well indulge them and allow them to shriek with pain at having to support the country which has afforded them so many opportunities at our expense.

When a rich man calls you a communist, it means you're doing something right.

[IChing]

4. What We have is a distribution of poverty not wealth

in this nation




Those that make a quarter of a million dollars or more a year,
I wish I could be a part of that crowd and would pay gladly.

[fob]

6. Now that'd make a good bumpersticker.

When a rich man calls you a communist, it means you're doing something right.

[Sandpiper]

5. Gads! It's the Holocaust!!!!

Where's Grover Norquist when you need him?

[anotherdrew]

7. why must is ALWAYS be called a "hike" in the media?

It's 'spin' language and it's always used by the media when talking about tax rate adjustments.