Governor Jerry Brown announced today that California's state income is $2.2 billion short of its projected income. As a result, $258 million will be cut from public school transportation, and there will be increased fees for college students. Governor Brown is planning on asking voters next year to temporarily raise taxes on the state's highest earners. A recent poll shows 60% of voters in favor of this measure.
This article goes back to the discussion over whether or not California is too democratic. While direct initiatives can get new laws passed more quickly and give the public more power, they also allow new laws, such as prop 13, to get passed which, as evidenced by this article, have substantial consequences. Governor Brown is calling for more democracy to fix the current budget crisis by asking the voters, and not the legislature, to fix the crisis. Do you believe that the public is willing/able to fix it? Or do you think the budget crisis should be dealt with primarily by the legislature?
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
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9 comments:
In this case, with education spending at risk of being cut,the public would definitely be willing to fix this problem. This is apparent in the results of a poll on public-school funding which indicates that more people are willing to pay more taxes if it is for education. So I'm sure the people would be willing to pay. However,whether or not the public is able to fix it is another question.
I agree with Ari that the public would be willing to fix it. I think that voters with family members in the education system would be particularly interested in trying to fix the budget problem, especially since the funding being cut is directly affecting their own family members. Furthermore, I think that legislature should not deal with the budget crisis at all. Funding from education has been cut year after year and that has been due to legislator actions. The public should be taking the crisis into their own hands.
I also agree that the public would be willing to fix this problem. It has such a direct impact on the public that people would have a desire to take action. They may not actually be able to fix the power on their own, so I think the legislature will need to step in and work on fixing the crisis along with the public.
While I'm sure the public is willing to fix it, the question that should be asked is whether or not we can fix it with personal opinions and individual goals in mind. Of course, as we have witnessed personally over the past few years in SMUHSD, the education budget has not been doing our educational institutions justice, and that needs to be addressed. But, what needs to be determined is whether or not those concerned with the budget can fairly and rationally direct their votes for what is best for the state, not just what is best for themselves. With the view of mankind brought to us by the Framers, the selfish patterns of people may prove unhelpful in such a democratic system, especially with something as important as the budget.
Even though the public is willing to fix the issue, I don't think they can completely fix it on their own. I definitely think that they should take part, since in the past, the legislature has cut way too much from education in my opinion. With such a big issue as this, there needs to be some kind of legislative assistance or intervention with the public's decisions. This can't be driven solely by the opinions of the voters. There needs to be some sort of other force or something to make sure that nothing like prop 13 gets passed.
I agree mostly with Jamie, I think that the public wants and likes the idea of fixing the State's budget problems, however I think that the public wants all of the benefits and at no cost. Since the cost of many things is not directly out of their pockets and thus directly related to them, I do not think that the people would vote for any sort of cut to their benefits and because of the government having too much democracy, the govenor cannot do what is best for the state and people in the long run and has to live with what the people want short term.Too much democracy, reform is needed, yet that cannot happen because of what we have already passed and the public's general short sided/ greediness.
I think increasing taxes is hardly ever popular among voters and citizens, but I feel that if the issue money is being generated for is of enough significance and has a large enough impact on most of the people, citizens may be willing to endure raise on a tax/taxes. As with this particular issue of education and cutting public school transportation and increasing college students' expenses, I think people will be more likely to tolerate a tax increase for such a purpose, but it's not certain how citizens will react and even if a temporary raise in taxes on the state's highest earners will be enough.
currently more than half of california's budget comes directly from personal income taxes and sales taxes. To me that seems a little exesive and could be corrected by increasing taxes on other items. without a major reform of government to correct for our state's deficit we (the younger generation) will be stuck with higher taxes across the board to account for the debt previous generations left us
I am not so sure I can speak for the public who has Brown for governor that would really agree on one decision for budgeting etiquette and compromise. I believe what Kirsten is going for is perhaps some organizational party intervention on a state legislature level on behalf of the public. This could happen on an interest group basis, or some other third party in order to mobilize support.
The side of the public that really feels strongly towards saving education are probably the ones with connections with students in general. The side of the public that would be against fixing the problem are probably people who want to save money for the present. Of course, the neutral side would probably not have preferences with either interest. But, this is set in a simple, limited context in light of the budget crisis.
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