California Insider

The wealthiest 1 percent of Californians, on average, pay more than $100,000 a year in taxes, but the share of their income they pay to the government is less than that paid by the poorest fifth of non-elderly famlies, according to this report from the California Budget Project.

A new Rasmussen poll has Schwarzenegger leading both Democrats by significant margins.

Here's a rarity. All four legislative leaders are scheduled to participate in a panel discussion Tuesday on infrastructure. It's in San Jose from 11 to noon, sponsored by the Bay Area Council. Oh, and some guy named Schwarzenegger is also on the agenda.

Jon Fleischman notes that the governor plans a meeting today with the leaders of California's anti-tax movement. It will be interesting to see if Schwarzenegger repeats his pledge from 2003 not to raise taxes to solve the state's ongoing fiscal woes, but only to hold that option in reserve in case of some sort of natural disaster or terrorist attack. During the special election campaign last year he said that if his budget reform measure failed, he would have to consider tax increases as an option again. He hasn't repeated that lately, and he doesn't need new taxes to balance the next budget. But all the projections show that he will need a tax increase or spending cuts next January, or 2008 at the latest, to close the structural shortfall.