When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week seemed to embrace closure of state tax credits as a way to solve the state's budget problems, Republicans immediately charged that any such move would be tantamount to a tax increase.
And Schwarzenegger, who campaigned on a no-new-tax pledge in 2006, has said he does not plan to raise taxes to bridge the state's budget gap this year.
But it all depends on what your definition of "tax increase" is. As Schwarzenegger has become increasingly adept at doing since winning re-election, he said Tuesday that one shouldn't get bogged down in such trifles as words and definitions.
"Well, you know everyone has their own position," he said. "I have mine. I think we should not get caught up on what is something called, and what is the definition of something because that doesn’t bring anyone any health care. It doesn’t bring anyone any education. It doesn’t hire teachers. It doesn’t expand our education programs or anything. What we need to do is fix problems and just put everything on the table and not debate what the definition of something is. But just say, everyone has to participate and everyone has to contribute in order to get this done.”
Though he said he'd like to look at closing tax loopholes, the Republican governor reiterated he does not agree with all of Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill's recommendations for reducing or eliminating $2.7 billion in state tax credits, ranging from the exemption for yachts purchased out of state to a $294 tax credit for dependents.
Schwarzenegger last week for a brief moment appeared to back all of Hill's loophole closures, but he later clarified that he meant the state should merely analyze all of them.
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