Voters: No new taxes

A large majority of California voters prefer that state government cut spending rather than raise taxes to balance the budget, according to the latest California Field Poll.

It's encouraging that most people recognize this common-sense approach to correcting decades of overspending in Sacramento, where legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger continue to bicker about how to eliminate a $17 billion deficit by Saturday's budget adoption deadline. Democrats have insisted increased taxes must be part of the solution. The governor has waffled, while Republicans generally have resisted tax increases.

Although Democrats control both houses of the Legislature, they appear to be the most out of touch with voters, according to the Field Poll conducted in late May. Overall, 63 percent of registered voters said they want the deficit closed mostly by cuts in spending, while 26 percent were willing to raise taxes, instead.

Moreover, as the San Francisco Chronicle points out, "just two years ago, voters turned down the chance to tax the rich (Proposition 82), tobacco users (Prop. 86) and oil companies (Prop. 87)." Clearly, tax increases are preferred only in Sacramento, and then almost only among Democrats.

Yet in Sacramento the obvious seems obscure for those loathe to cut programs and who insist on increasing Californians' tax burden to pay their way out of a hole dug by free-spending legislators and a compliant governor.

Perhaps it is because of the Legislature's intransigency that voters also are resigned to the inevitability of some tax increases. Statewide, 81 percent of voters, including 80 percent of Republicans, believe the current budget problems won't be resolved without increasing taxes.

It's important to note the difference between what voters say they want - no tax increases - and what they view as inevitable - some tax increases. The former sentiment expresses their widely held preference that their representatives impose no more taxes, while the latter sentiment shows how little they trust their representatives to do what they want them to do.

The disparity between the public's preference and Sacramento's oblivious attitude is an even sadder commentary than the fact that the Legislature and governor have yet learned to live within their means, even with revenue at all-time highs.