A recent public opinion poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found that the vast majority of the public lacks a very basic understanding of how the State of California raises and spends its money, however, 72% of Californians believe that they—not their political leaders—should make reform decisions at the ballot box.
To illustrate, only 16% of California residents correctly identified K-12 education as representing the area of the most state spending and 49% of all residents said the most money goes to prisons and corrections—despite the fact that prisons and corrections represents a mere 10% of the state budget, while K-12 education composes just over 40%.
Only 28% of Californians correctly identified the personal income tax as the area representing the most revenue in the state budget, while 30% named the sales tax. In the 2009-10 budget, the state’s personal income tax accounted for 55% of the state’s general fund revenues, followed by the sales tax at 31% and corporate tax at 10%.
Perhaps the most shocking finding of the poll is that 72% of the public, despite their lack of a basic understanding of budget and tax issues, the public believes that they should make reform decisions at the ballot box, not the Governor and Legislature.
The poll asked: “And when it comes to long-term issues of reforming the state budget process, both in terms of changing the way the state taxes and spends money, which approach do you most prefer: the Governor and Legislature should pass new laws; or the California voters should decide at the ballot box?” Some 72% of all adults said California voters should decide at the ballot box, while only 22% said the Governor and Legislature should pass laws.
Public’s Misunderstanding of Budget and Tax Issues Leads to Flawed Perception of Political Discourse on These Issues
The public’s lack of an understanding of these issues inevitably leads to a flawed perception of the political discourse on these issues in the media and in other public forums. One can only speculate about the depth of the public’s lack of knowledge on other more complicated budget issues such as the causes of Legislative gridlock and impact of the 2/3 vote requirement in the Legislature to pass a budget and close even the most egregious tax loopholes.
Furthermore, when asked “how would you prefer to deal with the state’s budget gap—mostly through spending cuts, mostly through tax increases, through a mix of spending cuts and tax increases, or do you think that it is okay for the state to borrow money and run a budget deficit?” Some 41% of adults said through a mix of spending cuts and tax increases, while 37% said mostly spending cuts, 9% said mostly tax increases and only 6% said that it was okay to borrow money and run a deficit.
However, in two separate questions asked later 66% of adults said they would pay higher taxes for K-12 education and 82% of adults said they opposed cutting K-12 education. If more California voters knew education composed nearly half of all state spending, as opposed to prisons, they would likely be more adverse to severe spending cuts as an option, and likely prefer for the Legislature to examine tax loophole closures or other tax increases to fund education.
If voters knew more about the budget process it is likely that more than 51% of voters polled by PPIC would believe replacing the 2/3 vote requirement with a 55% majority vote is a good idea. Increased education on tax issues could also increase the 13% of adults who believe the state and local tax system is fine the way it is.
Political Leaders Need to Step Up to the Challenge
California voters will not be likely to make responsible, informed decisions on future budget and tax-related proposals, and the leaders who advocate for them, until they acquire a basic understanding of state tax and budget issues.
Reform advocates, including the California Teachers’ Association and Repair California, have filed a series of budget and tax ballot measures–of which at least a handful are likely to appear on the November 2010 ballot—but any successful public education campaign will take years as opposed to months to achieve significant results.
Political leaders and advocates for reform must improve the public’s education of these issues to have any real chance of achieving meaningful reform at the ballot box—the most likely place for reform to occur given the gridlock in the Legislature.
Governor Sets Bad Example for Political Leaders
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has continued to obscure the magnitude of the state’s budget crisis proposing a misleading and flawed budget trigger in his January budget proposal, while calling on the federal government to help close the state’s $20 billion budget gap by providing $7 billion in additional federal spending for California.
The Governor sets a bad example for the state’s political leaders by saying it is OK to distort the state’s budget crisis by shifting the focus to what the federal government can do, as opposed to accepting responsibility for the need to balance the state budget through realistic means. The Governor’s actions do not honestly represent the state’s budget situation and the tough choices needed to close the $20 billion budget gap for 2010-11.
Political leaders need to stop playing political games with the budget and instead begin a true and honest education of the public on budget issues. Only then will voters truly understand the need for budget and tax reform and be able to make informed decisions among potential reform options.
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