SACRAMENTO — The uphill fight for a slate of budget measures on the May 19 ballot is being financed largely by alcohol and tobacco firms, oil companies, sports teams and Hollywood studios that could be hit by higher taxes if voters reject the $23-billion special election proposals.
Oil and energy companies have given more than $1.1 million to promote the propositions, which are intended to help balance California's books. The alcohol and tobacco industries have donated $875,000. Sports teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers, have pitched in $275,000. Walt Disney Co., Universal Studios and other entertainment titans have tossed in more than $600,000.
Each of those industries narrowly escaped more taxes during the last round of budget negotiations, which ended in February with a deal signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that temporarily bridged a $42-billion gap. That package included the six budget-related propositions.
If the measures don't pass, the state could head into its new fiscal year in July with another big budget deficit and potentially hefty deficits for years to come, state leaders say. Defeat of the propositions could cost the state nearly $6 billion in potential new revenue in 2009-10 and an additional $17 billion by 2014, according to financial officials.
Without that money, state lawmakers say, they will be boxed into a fiscal corner. Budget analysts say a potential result is a renewed push to tap many of the industries now giving big money to the ballot measures campaign.
Gasoline taxes could rise, as could a nearly 10% special tax on oil pumped from California soils. A "nickel a drink" tax on alcohol, proposed in the past but never enacted, could be imposed. Sports teams and the movie industry could have sales taxes extended to the tickets they sell.
The corporate campaign giving "amounts to protection money," said Doug Heller, executive director of Consumer Watchdog.
Heller said the corporations "already won yesterday's battles" to keep the state from hitting them up for revenue. The campaign contributions, he said, "give them a leg up in tomorrow's battle" over taxes.
Tapping the various corporations that are contributing heavily this campaign season could be tough. Nearly all the taxes proposed in the past would need a two-thirds vote in both houses of the Legislature.
