Governor Schwarzenegger Proposes Tax Increase

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published August 20, 2008 at 12:58 PM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is moving to end the stalemate over a state budget by offering a compromise spending plan. The plan calls for additional cuts and a one percent sales tax incr

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is moving to end the stalemate over a state budget by offering a compromise spending plan. The plan calls for additional cuts and a 1 percent sales tax increase. In the past, the governor has said he is against raising taxes. But with the budget two months overdue he's changed his mind.

Schwarzenegger says it's time to find a middle ground between taxes and cuts to state programs.

Schwarzenegger: But I think it's time for the dialogue to stop and to create some action. And it's time for everyone to compromise and get this down once and for all. Republicans must step out of their ideological corner on the right and Democrats must step out of their ideological corner on the left.

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California was supposed to have a budget in place by July 1, the start of the fiscal year. But lawmakers differ over how to close the $15.2 billion deficit.

Republicans have been adamant about not raising taxes, while Democrats proposed a combination of cuts and tax increases.

Schwarzenegger's latest proposal seeks an additional $2 billion in cuts and a temporary sales tax increase. The state sales tax would be reduced to something below its current level after three years.

The governor's plan also includes a formula for a rainy day fund to smooth out state spending when the economy declines.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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