Californians back raising taxes on state's wealthy

[Auggie]

San Francisco Chronicle / 4-1-2011

With negotiations over how to solve California's $26.6 billion state budget deficit stalled, a new poll released today shows strong bipartisan support for something Sacramento lawmakers this year haven't seriously debated: raising taxes on the wealthiest residents.

Seventy-eight percent of likely California voters support a 1 percent increase in the income tax rate for Californians earning more than $500,000 a year, according to the poll, which was conducted by Democratic pollster Ben Tulchin and sponsored by the California Federation of Teachers.

A one percentage point increase, which would raise an estimated $2.5 billion a year, offers a possible Plan B for helping solve the budget deficit, with 60 percent of Republican respondents and 79 percent of independents and other voters backing it, along with 89 percent of Democrats. The maximum income tax rate is 9.55 percent, according to the Californian Franchise Tax Board.

"There is a populist anger out there that cuts across all lines," Tulchin said. Many voters felt it was unfair that the wealthiest Americans got their Bush-era tax cuts extended last year.

MORE: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/31/MNP21INRMH.DTL&tsp=1

Despite the public sentiment above, California Republicans are denying us even the right to vote on it ourselves in a special election.

"(Governor Jerry Brown) had said he wanted a June election so he would know the outcome before the start of the fiscal year July 1. He has said that a rejection of the extensions would mean more spending cuts and has publicly chastised Republicans for opposing his plan to let voters choose which option to take.

“Denying the people of California the right to vote on these matters of such profound importance would be nothing less than tragic,” Brown said in a March 25 letter to Dutton.

LINK: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-29/brown-halts-tax-referendum-talks-with-california-republicans-1-.html

The Californian Republican Party Death Wish -- may it come really soon.

[BlueJazz]

1. One percent ??....5 percent would be more like it. The wealthy have benefited even FAR..

...more than 5%.
One percent is almost an insult to working families. :(

[tularetom]

2. As a tax paying Californian I do not support this proposal

I think they'd have a lot more support if they proposed to raise taxes on the rich by at least 10%. Hell, raise 'em by 100%, they'd still be better off than the rest of us. This is the kind of wussified, toe-in-the-water approach that pisses people off about the Democrats.

[Auggie]

3. I'd like to see a progressive scale

that hits the super rich -- and corporations -- harder.