April 22, 2008

CalChamber think-tank inches toward taxes

Loren Kaye has an intriguing op-ed in today's Bee. Kaye is the president of the California Foundation for Commerce and Education, which is the think tank backed by the California Chamber of Commerce.

The CalChamber has long been an opponent of higher taxes, sounding the same themes as legislative Republicans that California has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

But in today's op-ed, Kaye makes an amended argument, writing that, "It is simply implausible that we can solve in a single year a deficit problem unaddressed for years without devastating important education, public safety and safety net programs."

That is not to say that Kaye, or the CalChamber, is coming out full-throatedly to back new taxes.

Kaye continues:

Any budget solution – but especially one purchased with new taxes – must unshackle elected officials to set priorities: repeal automatic inflation adjustments, cap guaranteed benefit programs, reopen union contracts that automatically boost wages (including in school districts) and at long last control future public employee health care and retirement obligations.

And a budget solution that includes tax increases must be accompanied by education reforms that improve performance of programs that spend half of state revenues and are critical to California's economy.

Any tax increase should be legislated as a stop-gap measure that would be temporary. Taxpayers should be made whole during the upside of an economic cycle if they have been tapped for help during the downturn.

That position -- advocating new, if temporary, taxes in return for budget reforms -- is where many are speculating the governor is headed, especially with his shifting rhetoric about taxes, loopholes and fees.

Posted by Shane Goldmacher on April 22, 2008 10:15 AM