Jerry Browns California Budget Proposal - Essay Example

Jerry Browns California Budget Proposal The Governor of California, Jerry Brown was having a talk about his new budget proposal. Among the first words he was saying is that the deficit has shrunk by billions of dollars and there are billions more to go. But Jerry Brown has a few plans, with time running out, lets call it Plan A: because if he asks voters to approve the tax extension, it cant be possible, his new plan is to ask them second. Because Browns thought about the budget proposal may affect the important economy of California he needs to get tax extensions through with the Legislature on his mind then with the voters help. "An honest program with a lot of sense and potential for California" says Jerry Brown. But the main plan of the Governor includes: The deficit of California at about $10.8 billion dollars, but with a billion in reserve. More than $6.5 billion dollars in revenue for the next 13-14 month. Schools need to get $3 billion more than his proposal from January [5]. And he still thinks of extending the higher sales tax and car fees for about five years but without the incoming tax for more than four years. In Browns direct opinion, the tax extensions are extremely necessary for the people of California because of what he calls a "wall of debt", to push deficits to later years. The main plan of Brown includes the tax extensions and says that without them the public education about $5 billion cut. This means about 50,000 community college courses eliminated. Now, California revenue is up but Jerry Brown is saying that the state continues from the recession but he also said that even a multibillion dollar revenue in from the tax will stand up for the California budget deficit. The governor starts by July 1 with his revision of the budget proposal and hopes for better days for the state. Upon his declarations, the schools will receive about 3 billion dollars because of his plan but this will not work if the tax renewals are rebuffed by the voters. Brown proposed to spend over 88 billion dollars. This high spending method was fueled by rising sales, the personal income and of course, the taxes. And these three are the main sources of fund for the state budget. Before July 2012, Brown expects an increase of about 6.6 billion dollars from taxes [4]. Because the spending cuts were already reduced as the governor predicts, with a deficit to 9.6 billion dollars. It was quite good in the citizen’s opinions. He was also against the decision to push ahead the tax plan, his reason is that the state will have difficult days and will face deficits in the future. Also, among other things, Jerry Brown has announced his budget proposal for this year. He revises the version for the early proposal from January, saying this because his main plan is to increase taxes by $9.3 billion but with about $2.6 billion cut for spending. Now, California has accrued a bit more than $35 billion dollars and contained only $12 billion for tax extensions. Brown said that the economy of California is growing, quite little, but the important part is that is growing. Still facing $10 billion on structural deficit and much more pay for the years to come is written on walls for the economy. The "Great Recession" was the fault for Californias finances. He also is convinced that this is the time to put the Californias finances in order. His new revision cuts about $12.2 billion to bring another $3 billion increase in funds. The California State University and UC would lose about $500 million, and do not forget for another $500 million that was cut in March [3]. For this occasion, the State Republicans give their own budget to prevent cuts to the education systems and the law enforcement, but without raising taxes. But the Senator Lois Wolk was supporting the revised budget. Wolk was pleased to see him ready to make changes in the reforms in the budget. He says that now is the time for all parties and all of their members to get serious and make their best to move the California state forward. But until then, California budget will be lower by $12 billion. The Governor of California, Jerry Brown, confirmed that the budget plan will be cut by $12.5 billion dollars in spending and about $12 billion dollars in tax hikes [1]. The budget cuts will be very bad for the states residents and on its workers. Most of their workers will lose about 10% and the welfare programs can be cut for about $3.2 billion. Brown says that some of these cuts for the Californias budget will be painful and requires the sacrifice of every sector of the state, but is for the greater good. "The last 10 years the budget tricks brought us down" says Jerry Brown. His plans are to extend the 2009 tax hikes as much as he can for the good of the state and his citizens. With 1 percentage point up in sales taxes with also an increase in vehicle registration fee that will expire in June 30. But also, Brown says that he wants to make an election in June to give its citizens the opportunity to vote about the tax increases, which is good. But if those hikes would be approved the cuts would be much deeper. The governor also wants to trim the government operation for about 200 million dollars. A few of the cuts: Local libraries can be short for 30.4 million dollars in funding. Medicaid patients need to pay about $5 for Medi-Cal services. Most of the elderly will lose the services for their in-home programs. The parks with a low attendance need to be shut down. While the hours will be shorten [2]. Continuing with the state taxes, the main question is, should a large amount of tax hikes from California be allowed to expire, or they need to be improved to pay the down state of Texas-size deficit? The governor campaign for last year, he promised to put that question on the measure of the ballot to give the citizens the right to make a decision. And then, of course, Brown won with about 13 points. But the voters like this idea. A huge amount of voters favors the measure of the ballot. The California Republican Party would never want this democratic move. Because the republicans opposed, the governor vote has coupled the tax extensions with about $12 billion less. But this would affect the services for poor people, sick or elderly. In any case, even if Brown gets everything he wants, California will still spend a huge amount of money. For example, the environmental protection will be less by 16 percent and the held and human services will be cut by 22 percent, on the other hand, the education will be cut by 16 percent compared to the year 2010. But lets not forget the last fiscal year. When the previous Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger needed to put down about $19 billion deficit, making this impossible to reach the budget they wanted for those 100 days. But after all, now the countdown is over and Brown still has a long way to go to accomplish his plans and his goals. And here we are with a great comparison of the Californias income tax and sales tax rates with other states, let’s take a look below [6]. According to the newest comparisons, Californias tax rate and, as we expect, the sales rate are the highest in the Union. The highest rate, is more than 1 million dollars and will continuously rising from about 10.20% to 10.55%. The taxable income of about $94.110 for a normal married couple will continuously rising to 9.55% from 9.3%. But on the other hand, for single people the threshold is about $45.000 From the first 45 states, we can begin with Rhode Island because is the second on the highest tax rate at about 9.9%. The income that is taxable for singles is about $349.000. Then comes the Vermont state with about 9.5%. Now comes, Iowa, New Jersey and Oregon with the 9% income taxes. For our surprising, New York highest tax rates was about 6.85% bu this is only for income taxes that exceeds $20.000. In this case, the low incomers will be glad in this case. Now, the sale taxes part. California sale taxes are about 8%. Of course, the rates dont include cities and counties taxes. On the second place is Indiana, with 7%, then Mississippi, New Jersey and Rhode Island. The conclusion is that most of the states are facing a huge amount of deficits of their budgets and this will most likely result in higher taxes. But, for citizen’s happiness, the property tax burdens are much lower in California than other states. Conclusion: In my opinion, the proposal for spending cuts and tax increases is a reasonable one, because on the approach that the state will be for the future years, the economy will be stronger. But even with Californias tax revenue, its income is far for a good one. So, if I could say, the tax rate should continue because it has a lot of improvements and California will avoid crisis. California will increase its budget and the economy will be in a continuously growing state. Bibliography 1. Allysia Finley. “Jerry Browns Budget Gambit”, Opinion: Political Diary, The Wall Street Journal. January 14, 2011 retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704803604576077960312917724.html 2. Michael Kelley. “California Librarians Push Back Against Browns Zero Budget for Public Libraries”, Library Journal. January 14, 2011 retrieved from http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/888818-264/california_librarians_push_back_against.html.csp 3. “California State Budget: SFSU Perspectives and Resources”, San Francisco State University. n.d. retrieved from http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/budget03.htm 4. “The 2010-11 Budget: Californias Fiscal Outlook”, Legislative Analyst’s Office. November 18, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.lao.ca.gov/2009/bud/fiscal_outlook/fiscal_outlook_111809.aspx 5. “Proposed Budget Summary”, Governor’s Budget 2011-12. January 10, 2011 retrieved from http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/BudgetSummary/BSS/BSS.html 6. “Sales taxes in the United States”, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. May 24, 2011 retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_the_United_States Read More