Reps.: Taxes not answer

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore fears that some of his fellow GOP state lawmakers are on the brink of striking a budget deal with the Democrats that includes a tax increase the caucus has adamantly said it would vote down in the past.

“I’m becoming concerned with what I’m hearing from the negotiations that what’s happening right now is that the governor and the rest of the Big 5 [a group made up of the top Assembly and Senate leaders from both parties] are negotiating tax increases in exchange for government reform, significant reductions in expenditures and regulatory reform,” DeVore said. “The seriousness of the problem, I think, is causing Republicans to abandon the last thing that separates us from the other side. I’m very uneasy with what I’m hearing.”

Assemblyman Van Tran said other steps need to be taken before a tax increase can be seriously considered by Republicans, but he wouldn’t rule out the possibility altogether. The devil is in the details, Tran said, and if any tax increase were proposed he would have to examine who it affected and in what way before making a decision on it.

Both men are part of the Republican assembly leadership group in which DeVore has said he has seen a change in tenor in the last few days.

Sen. Tom Harman said he hasn’t heard any such speculation and doubts that any proposal with a tax increase has enough Republican support to achieve the two-thirds majority needed for passage. Republicans are outnumbered almost 2 to 1 in the legislature, so it would only take a handful of changed minds to tip the scales.

“My personal opinion is that I don’t think they are close. We kind of only get a sketchy report of what’s going on, but I look at my caucus and I don’t see the necessary votes to go forward on a tax increase,” Harman said.

All of them agreed, however, with the cornerstone of the governor’s State of the State address Thursday — that an ideologically driven civil war over the budget in the legislature has been extremely destructive to the economy.

In the 12-minute speech focused entirely on the budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed threatening to suspend the paychecks and per-diem expenses of the lawmakers if they failed to pass a new state budget before the June 15 deadline set by the state’s constitution.

“I mean, you have to admit this is a brilliant idea, and look at the happy faces I see now. I love that. I mean, if you call a taxi and the taxi doesn’t show up, you don’t have to pay the driver. So if the people’s work doesn’t get done, I think the people’s representatives shouldn’t get paid either,” Schwarzenegger said.

Harman called the proposal childish, and DeVore said it would put unnatural financial pressure on less wealthy members of the legislature to hastily agree to tax increases. Tran, on the other hand, supports the idea.

“I think there should be discipline within the budget process. The constitution is very clear on the deadlines, and we should do our jobs and do them on time,” he said.

This year’s budget came almost three months late and almost immediately after it passed the legislative analyst predicted that it was based on faulty information and stood no chance of tiding the state over until the next year’s budget negotiations.

The stalemate was caused by a strict partisan divide between Republicans, who wouldn’t agree to a tax increase under any circumstances, and Democrats, who weren’t satisfied with balancing the budget with spending cuts alone.

Now the budget gap through June is estimated at $42 billion.

There is some agreement between both parties on about $6 billion in spending cuts, but Democrats are reticent to make them before getting a compromise from Republicans on other issues. Harman has called on the Democrats to agree to the cuts immediately, though.

“I think we should do this one step at a time,” Harman said.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at [email protected].