With lawmakers at an impasse over the state budget, the SEIU State Council, which represents state workers, took it upon itself to propose its own dream plan Tuesday.
And we mean dream in the politest of terms, as in it might happen in a parallel universe where Democrats don't need any Republican votes and federal dollars pour from the sky.
First off, it includes no cuts.
It then raises taxes by $14.2 billion through June 2010. The plan proposes a targeted increase in the state's vehicle-license fee that hits only vehicles worth more than $20,000. It also increases taxes on households making above $250,000 a year, imposes a tax on oil production, increases alcohol taxes and broadens the sales tax to include entertainment.
The SEIU budget finally raises a remaining $15 billion through a federal bailout, including a $10 billion payment in 2009-10.
Republicans have resisted taxes so far, but they've especially rejected targeted taxes that impact the wealthy. Democrats didn't even put those kinds of taxes in their budget bills last week.
And not even Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, who recently wished out loud that California could use federal dollars in lieu of cuts, thinks the state would receive $15 billion from Washington.
SEIU's main point was to argue that the state already cut spending in its September budget relative to the governor's original proposal in January, so that should be counted as a sacrifice already made.
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