SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — When Gov. Jerry Brown and his allies urged voters to adopt a temporary income tax on the wealthiest Californians and a statewide sales tax on everyone four years ago, the deal was billed as a short-term salve for a state mired in debt and on the verge of insolvency.
The taxes were needed to stave off $6 billion in so-called "trigger cuts" to schools and social programs baked into the state budget by Democrats as a threat to voters. Lawmakers also threatened to cut three weeks off the school year if Proposition 30 didn't pass.
"Each of us need to do what we can, and for those who've been most blessed, we're going to ask you for seven years. The biblical seven years," Brown told an audience at the Commonwealth Club in November 2012.
Voters bought the pitch.
Now, with the sales tax set to expire at the end of this year, and income taxes on earnings above $250,000 a year set to end in January 2019, the California Teachers Association and other labor unions want to keep the income tax, which they say is again needed to prevent $4 billion in cuts to schools.
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http://www.aberdeennews.com/wire/ap-state-ca/proposition-would-extend-temporary-tax-for-years/article_6dbda31e-8bb3-5721-8710-053395ab5cf4.html
