Trashing Arnold's tax idea

By "law" the California budget is supposed to be completed by June 30, although that seldom happens. The deadlock is still ongoing, with a $15.9 billion deficit forecast. Arnold had proposed a "temporary" cent-a-dollar sales tax increase, and the Register thought that was a really bad idea. Was that any way to treat him after his office called and asked if we would run an op-ed piece from him touting the idea, which we did? I thought so. You can be nice, or at least civil, to politicians, but a bad idea is a bad idea. And with California already having the 6th-highest tax burden in the country and the 4th-highest per capita government spending, this is a bad idea. The state government doesn't have a borrowing addiction, it has a spending addiction.

Legislative meetings and negotiations are likely this weekend.