Gray Davis: Jerry Brown will try to raise taxes

That’s the informed opinion of California’s former (and reviled) governor about the likely future under the Once and (maybe) Future Governor. From the Fresno Bee:

Former Gov. Gray Davis, no stranger to special elections after being recalled in 2003, said Wednesday that California is likely to face another special election next spring.

Davis pointed to billions in tax revenue set to expire next year, creating a deep hole in the next budget. He said that would force a conversation about whether to extend current, higher tax rates on income, sales and vehicles – and that such a conversation would involve the voters.

“The next governor will have to have a special election given the additional revenue shortfall we’ll face because of the temporary tax increases expiring,” Davis said in a phone conversation.

“Next governor” is a code phrase for “Jerry Brown,” since Whitman herself has said no way:

I saw today that former Governor Gray Davis says that if Jerry Brown is elected, we will have a special election in the spring to ask voters for even higher taxes. Talk about March Madness! More taxes in a recession. And Gray Davis ought to know; he was Jerry Brown’s right hand man for years. Voters, you are warned. Jerry Brown will bring more spending, more taxes and more lost jobs to California.

And that isn’t just campaign rhetoric: businesses and individual job creators are already fleeing California, in large part because of high taxes. When you add together the unemployed, the under-employed, and those who have given up looking for work, California’s jobless rate reaches 22%, according to that bastion of extreme right-wingnuttery, 60 Minutes:

Just last year, California voters crushed Proposition 1A, which would have imposed a special tax increase. With the state in worse shape now than it was then, only spending addicts such as Brown and Davis could seriously believe the people would approve new taxes. The only way the (once) Golden State will get out of this mess is by cutting spending, reducing taxes, and eliminating regulations that encourages job creators to take their business elsewhere.

And the first step is to vote Meg.

via Mayor Sam’s Sister City

Note: Davis talks about extending expiring taxes, but the linked Bee article also mentions “tax hikes.” You can be sure Brown and the legislature will want more than just what they currently have.

(Crossposted at Public Secrets)

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