Since his first-term use of red-ink spigots and "Count Cartaxula," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has toned down his reliance on props.
But today came proof that he can't stop entirely.
The Republican governor had his staff install outside his office a repeating video loop of President Barack Obama telling ABC News on Monday, "I can guarantee that the worst thing we could do would be to raise taxes when the economy is still this weak." The display is in a case titled "State of California," next to the displays for California counties in the State Capitol.
After visiting Washington last week with legislative leaders as a unified team, Schwarzenegger is now trying to hammer Democratic state legislators today on the tax issue. His aides issued recent statements by Democrats that suggested looking for new tax revenues to help erase a $20 billion budget deficit.
"Legislative Democrats have vowed to push forward with proposals to increase revenue - an approach that puts them in direct disagreement with President Obama who guaranteed that raising taxes was the worst thing to do in this economy," Schwarzenegger's office said in a statement.
Schwarzenegger believes the state can resolve the problem without new taxes. (Although, as we wrote last week, one person's definition of tax differs from another's.)
Democratic leaders have not outlined many specific tax proposals, but they have said the state should not rule out taxes. Among the few specific proposals that have been mentioned: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said the state should require tax withholding for independent contractors and Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Newark, has proposed a tax on oil extraction.
Steinberg spokesman Nathan Barankin suggested that massive spending cuts would harm the state's economy. "We have to solve a $20 billion budget hole after already filling a $60 billion budget hole (last year)," Barankin said. "There is absolutely nothing we can do to solve our budget problem that will be good for our economy."
Barankin added that the independent contractor withholding should not be considered a tax increase, but a new requirement intended to capture the contractors' fair share of tax payments.
"It's just another example of how the governor refuses to allow facts to get in the way of his rhetoric," Barankin said. "What that proposal says is people should pay the taxes they owe rather than depending on all the other law abiding taxpayers of the state to pick up their slack."
Torrico's proposal is similar to one the governor himself offered last January to help bridge a then-$40 billion deficit. Schwarzenegger aides at the time asserted that the severance tax would have virtually no impact on gas prices. But Schwarzenegger last May abandoned the plan, saying that voters wanted no more taxes.
Update (12:04 p.m.): An earlier version of this post stated that Barankin said Democrats disagree with Obama's position on taxes. Barankin clarified that he was responding to a Schwarzenegger statement that made that claim, and that he did not agree with the Schwarzenegger statement.
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