Spending limits would put government on a conservative courseSACRAMENTO — Liberal activists are worried that Democratic legislators are considering a deal to institute permanent curbs on government spending in order to win Republican support for tax increases as the Legislature seeks solutions to a $42 billion deficit facing the state over the next 18 months.
They are imploring Democrats to rethink any deal that they say will effectively cripple government, leaving future generations unable to respond to the more complex needs of a growing state with Draconian cuts required at every level of government.
"I'm very concerned from the conversations I've had that Democrats may agree to something like this," said Lenny Goldberg, executive director at the California Tax Reform Association. "There's no hope for the future if we do this. This would mean that if there's a huge need that we can't even anticipate right now, we won't be able to meet it. If they do this, they better do it with the notion that we'll put together a campaign and fight like hell to defeat this on the ballot."
That could be a problem. Any change in the way the state spends money would have to go before the people in a vote on a constitutional amendment. But Republicans are insisting that a spending cap be vote-proof: if a spending cap is defeated at the polls, any agreed-upon tax increase would be rescinded, possibly with rebates for taxes collected.
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