FROM SACRAMENTO — Many Californians will be torn in May. They can vote for a ballot measure that forces Sacramento to control state spending. Or they can vote against it and reduce their future taxes.
Control spending or reduce taxes? Reads like a non sequitur. Do both, conservatives would say. Do neither, liberals would respond.
Nobody gets everything they want on taxes and spending. That's why there was a compromise haggled out in the Capitol to keep Sacramento from drowning in red ink.
Democrats wanted permanent tax increases. Republicans insisted that they be temporary. Really, the GOP didn't want any tax hike unless there also was a spending cap. Democrats detested a spending cap. But they needed tax hikes to save education and welfare programs. Republicans could block the necessary two-thirds majority vote.
So negotiators cut a deal: Higher taxes on sales, income and vehicles would last two years without a spending cap. If the spending cap -- Proposition 1-A -- were approved in a May 19 special election, the sales tax would be extended another year and the income and vehicle taxes two more.
"When I read that, I thought I was dyslexic or something," recalls highway construction lobbyist Dave Ackerman, a veteran of many ballot measure campaigns. "I had to read it three times. 'Wait a minute! If I vote yes, I'm voting to extend these taxes? If I vote no, I'm voting to cut them?'
"I thought, 'This isn't the way you want this thing framed. That's screwy.' "
That's compromise -- behind closed doors and without public input.
It was also a strategic move by Republicans. They thought it might discourage public employee unions from spending millions against Prop. 1-A. After all, they'd want the tax increases, even if they abhor a spending cap.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders provided an extra sweetener for the powerful California Teachers Assn. Budget cuts have cost K-12 schools and community colleges $9.3 billion. Under Prop. 1-A, that money would be repaid from a "rainy-day" reserve starting in 2011.
That was enough incentive for the CTA not to oppose the spending cap. The union hasn't decided whether to help finance the campaign.
Other public employee unions, however, didn't get a sweetener, and some are expected to oppose Prop. 1-A. One is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
