Brown to Campaign for Proposition 30 at San Diego City College

Gov. Jerry Brown is scheduled to campaign at San Diego City College today on behalf of Proposition 30, which would increase the sales tax and income tax to help finance education from kindergarten through community college.

The initiative would increase the sales tax by a quarter-cent on the dollar for four years and raise the income tax on annual earnings over $250,000 for seven years.

Eighty-nine percent of the revenues from Proposition 30 would be devoted to schools from kindergarten through 12th grade and the other 11 percent to community colleges. The measure would also guarantee funding for public safety services realigned from state to local governments. Proposition 30 would generate an additional $6 billion in state tax revenues from the 2012-2013 through 2016-17 fiscal years, according to an estimate from the Legislative Analyst's Office and Director of Finance Ana J. Matosantos. Smaller amounts would be generated in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 fiscal years.

If the measure is rejected by the voters, "trigger cuts" would be made to the state budget.

Brown has called Proposition 30 "modest, fair and temporary."

"It won't solve all of the state's problems, but it will help dig us out of a deep hole and protect our schools until the recovery is complete," Brown said on May 14 as he presented his revised state budget proposal.

John Kabateck, executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business/California, said the initiative's "huge tax increases will destroy our small businesses and cost us jobs."

"This measure simply gives the politicians in Sacramento more tax money to spend on pet projects, like pensions and the high speed train to nowhere," Kabateck said.

A second measure that would increase taxes to help finance education will also be on the Nov. 6 ballot. Proposition 38 would increase personal income tax rates for 12 years for annual earnings over $7,316 using a sliding scale from 0.4 percent for the lowest individual earners to 2.2 percent for individual earning more than $2.5 million.

During the first four years, 60 percent of revenues would go to schools from kindergarten through 12th grade, 30 percent to repaying state debt, and 10 percent to early childhood programs. Thereafter, 85 percent of revenues would go to schools from kindergarten through 12th grade and 15 percent to early childhood programs.

If both measures are approved by voters, the one getting the most yes votes would prevail.

—City News Service