OUR VIEW: State of the State: Same old battle lines
In his State of the State address, Gov. Jerry Brown put forth a realistic if optimistic vision for California in the year ahead while defending his push for a tax initiative. Calling California "on the mend," he laid out a plan for more budget cuts balanced with a temporary sales and income tax increase to fund schools and programs that transfer state responsibilities to local governments.
To no one's surprise, Republicans reacted with knee-jerk pessimism to the speech. Their response (which was accidentally released in an online video 16 hours before the speech) was summed up in one phrase: "Unfortunately, the governor's vision is centered around one thing: higher taxes."
This statement ignores the fact that Brown has enacted billions in cuts over the past year and made great strides toward reducing California's perennial deficit -- from $20 billion when he took office to around $5 billion under the current budget proposal. Brown has a sensible plan to tackle the state's wall of debt and fund critical programs through cuts and new revenue.
Republicans won't give Brown a chance to fix the state's financial woes. The governor is now appealing to voters. We hope they make the right decision.
