In a sudden race to place tax initiatives on the ballot, hedge-fund manager Tom Steyer has filed a proposal to raise $1.1 billion from out-of-state companies for schools and green building projects.

The measure comes as a bipartisan team of political insiders, backed by billionaire Nicolas Berggruen, released a proposal to raise $10 billion each year, largely by charging sales taxes on services, from auto repair to legal work.

As California wrestles with ongoing budget problems, various well-financed groups are unveiling tax measures they hope to place on the November 2012 ballot. The state Legislative Analyst's Office said last week that California faces a $12.8 billion gap over the next 19 months.

Proponents are filing because they need to start now to collect enough signatures by June – 807,615 for a constitutional amendment and 504,760 for a new state statute. They also hope to jockey for space on an increasingly crowded ballot, with the pole position reserved for a tax plan by Gov. Jerry Brown and labor unions that remains under wraps.

"As everyone starts coming forward with their ideas, each of these groups begins to figure out if there are opportunities to partner or opportunities to go in opposition," said Adam Mendelsohn, a political consultant who worked on initiatives for former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "People start to horse trade and it becomes a very politicized dynamic."

Voters have rejected broad-based taxes in recent statewide elections. But proponents see hope in some polls, such as one released this weekend by the University of Southern California and Los Angeles Times showing that 64 percent of registered voters would support higher taxes for schools.

Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association remains skeptical.

"I think trying to sell a tax increase to California voters is a very tough sell," Coupal said. "It's not that they don't want to fund schools, but they just see their tax dollars not being spent very well."

Steyer heads Californians for Clean Energy and Jobs, a coalition of technology firms and environmental groups that formed in 2010 to defeat an oil-backed suspension of the state's greenhouse-gas reduction law.

Under his proposal, the state would require businesses to pay taxes based solely on the proportion of sales they have in California compared to other states. The $1.1 billion tax hike would largely fall on the backs of out-of-state companies who currently pay taxes based on a different formula that does not penalize them as much for maintaining workers and offices outside of California.

Brown unsuccessfully sought that change in the Legislature this year, first as a budget balancing solution, then as a way to offer tax credits to small businesses and manufacturers.

Steyer is senior managing partner of San Francisco-based Farallon Capital Management. He contributed $5 million to the 2010 effort opposing Proposition 23, the measure to suspend the state's greenhouse-gas emissions limit.

Various groups have eyed the corporate tax change this fall as a way to raise more than $1 billion annually. The Berggruen-backed Think Long Committee for California, in its sweeping tax plan, also called for the change to help raise its $10 billion.

For the first five years, the Steyer measure would raise an estimated $1.1 billion each year, with $550 million going toward retrofitting of public and commercial buildings for energy efficiency, as well as job training in clean energy technology. The remaining funds would go toward the state's general fund, including more than $200 million for K-12 schools and community colleges.

Californians for Clean Energy and Jobs includes the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Natural Resources Defense Council and California League of Conservation Voters, but individual members have not yet endorsed the proposal, according to Chris Lehane, a Democratic consultant working on the initiative.

"It closes an existing corporate tax loophole and uses the savings to create hundreds of thousands of construction jobs in California, all designed to jump-start the economy," Lehane said.

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Call Kevin Yamamura, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5548.

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