Left wing challenges Jerry Brown’s tax boost

April 12, 2012

By John Seiler

Our friend Ben Boychuk of City Journal California writes an incisive analysis of how Gov. Jerry Brown’s $9 billion tax increase initiative is being challenged — by a $10 billion tax increase from his Left. Ben:

Jerry Brown wants Californians to believe that the state, facing a current budget deficit of $9 billion, has a revenue problem. In fact, what the 30 million residents of the Golden State have is an entitlement problem. From health care to state and local public-employee retirement benefits, Californians face as much as $500 billion in unfunded liabilities for pensions alone. The state’s unfunded health-care liabilities top $62 billion.

Brown’s new budget actually proposes a 7 percent increase in spending, though it offers to cut some services. All of the governor’s plans assume that substantial, voter-approved tax hikes will provide billions in new revenue, helping to pay for the extra spending and shrinking the deficit. “I’m promising wine and roses,” he told reporters after a speech last month, “but not in 2012.”

Read the rest here.

Ben titled his analysis, “Guns and Roses,” a take on Brown’s phrase; also a reference to the rock group that was based here. Speaking of which, here’s a YouTube of G ‘n’ R’s “Welcome to the Jungle,” which describes California’s tax climate, especially the lines, spoken by the governor and Left-tax increaser Molly Munger:

In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your kn-kn-knees, knees
I wanna watch you bleed