(T)his budget is not a balanced budget; it is a contingent budget. So-called “balance” is achieved by relying on voters to pass a tax increase this fall. Voters, however, have turned down the last eight statewide tax increases and they will turn down the tax increases on the ballot this fall just as they turned down the Prop. 29 tax increase in June.
What will happen then? The budget calls for automatic cuts to programs.
The programs facing those cuts will be used politically by Gov. Jerry Brown to scare voters into tax increases this fall — i.e. if you don’t pass this tax increase, we have to cut education, parks, public safety, etc. Everyone in Sacramento knows, however, that those automatic budget cuts, as they are currently formulated, will not actually be made. When push comes to shove, those cuts will be revised.
In other words, the current budget is not and never was meant to be the real budget. It is a political document Brown and the Democrat leaders will use to push tax increases.