Brown Cites California's "Day of Reckoning" in Support of Temp Tax Hikes

With California's budget deficit now exceeding $16 billion, Governor Brown has released a proposed budget which seeks, in part, to raise revenues through temporary sales and income taxes.

Brown is asking voters to temporarily raise the statewide sales tax, already the highest in the U.S., to 7.5 percent from 7.25 percent and would also increase rates on income starting at $250,000. Millionaires, now taxed at 10.3 percent, would pay 13.3 percent, the highest in the nation.

“California has been living beyond its means,” Brown told reporters in Sacramento yesterday. “The United States of America and its federal government is living beyond its means. A lot of corporations have. A lot of people spend more money than they take in. Well, there has to be a balance and a day of reckoning.”