K-12 Tax & Spending Climate: One man stands between California and a bleak future

Christopher Caldwell:

When somebody asked California's governor Jerry Brown at a conference in Silicon Valley a couple of weeks ago what he would do to promote innovation, Mr Brown reminded his questioner that "innovation" in government is seldom prized. "Government is a collection of catchphrases, banalities and conventional wisdom," Mr Brown said, "and, to the extent you depart from that, you are stigmatised and reviled." Mr Brown should know. He has been innovating fast and he has been reviled. He may nonetheless be the only politician with the forthrightness to stand between California and a Greek-style debt spiral.

In the four months between January and last week, the state's budget deficit rose dramatically - from $9.2bn to $15.7bn, on a $91bn budget that must be balanced by law. These things happen in California. The political system has been ingeniously rigged. It is easy for citizens to vote themselves vast benefits by referendum but nearly impossible for the legislature to pass the taxes to pay for them. Until recently it required a two-thirds majority to pass a budget. Last year, when Mr Brown reached the end of his ability to compromise, he did what California governors often do: he made an overly rosy estimate of how much the state would get in tax revenues.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at May 21, 2012 2:09 AM
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