Budget Reforms

  • We must change our Proposition system not allowing any Propositions to be passed that do not have a source of revenue attached. We must stop robbing the General Fund to pay for Propositions
  • We must be prudent like sensible families who “save for a rainy day.” We must resend the requirement that surpluses be returned to the taxpayers during good times. We need to set aside at least 10% of our revenue in this rainy day fund.
  • We must increase revenue through such things as levees for internet sales and services
  • We need to restructure the tax base by requiring the super wealthy and corporations pay their fair share
  • We must require that oil companies pay tax on the oil they extract and/or refine in California just like every other state that has oil does.
  • We must tax luxury items such as private airplanes, yachts, etc.
  • We must reform Prop 13 protecting homeowners but separating the corporate from the individual homeowner parts so that corporations will have to pay a fairer tax rate for property owned.
  • We need to redistribute the tax burden. The super wealthy and corporations for the last 30 years have shifted the tax burden onto the middle and lower income people. We need to rebalance this

The Democrats most recent proposal to solving this current budget crisis looks to fix many of the systemic problems that plague us year after year. They are proposing an $8.2 billion revenue increase by adding a higher income tax rate to the highest income bracket. They are also willing to entertain some of the Governor’s spending reductions but say that we can't rely on volatile income taxes on the affluent because of how this does not provide a steady predictable revenue stream. We must repair the “fixed spending” formula system such as what we have for Education which exacerbates the boom or bust cycles. We need to generate more stable sources of revenue and say NO to spending caps.