Monday, April 25, 2011

Is Jerry Brown Really Gainning Support For Tax Hikes?

Well, according to this Los Angeles Times/USC poll, in reality it is somewhat hard to tell.
According to the way the headline and the article imply, the majority of registered California voters are willing to extend tax hikes for another five years with the alleged promise to also cut government spending.
Ahh, but one needs to look at the linked graphics to realize that it is not quite the way the Left Angeles Times is framing the debate.
When the question is broken down, 33% say to cut spending. Only nine percent say raise taxes. And then you get the answer to the combo question. And that is where one gets that the majority of registered California voters want a combination of both.
Then it gets convoluted.
Later in the graphic, the question is asked if respondents want to hold an election after June 30 to determine if the continuation of sales, income and vehicle tax increases should continue. A high number, 60% said yes. But, when asked if they want the state legislature to vote to do the same thing before June 30, 53% say no.
Again, the reality is that the polling data is contradictory. Thus, it is really hard to say that California voters really want to raise taxes. Yes, they want to vote on the issue, but one can not be certain that they, we, would vote to continue the tax hikes.
And when you read further into this article, the reality is that even the pollsters are not sure the voters would vote for the tax hike extension.
The reality is that having a costly special election to see the voters once again reject taxes in any form is still a hard sell. And that is why Gov. Jerry Brown has been up and down the state. To sell a plan that may be rejected by the actual voters.
The people want to see that every cut possible is being done before they will allow the Sacramento crowd any more of our money. Despite the fact that in the story, only the pro-tax people were quoted.
A funny thing called election results should be the final call. And last November, California voters rejected every tax proposal on the ballot. And, despite the apocolypse hammered home by Gov. Brown and his allies, I think the voters will once again reject continuing tax hikes. No matter what the Left Angeles Times tries to poll and manipulate on this issue.

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