Reagan raised taxes -- as governor of California

Does Scott Walker realize his hero Ronald Reagan raised taxes while he was governor of California? Does Owen Robinson?

From a February 28 column by Bill Stall in the Los Angeles Times:

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has joined the anti-tax Republicans in the Legislature — that is, all of them — in declaring, “You can’t tax your way” out of the state’s budget deficit problem. But, in fact, you can. California governors have been doing that for the last 40 years, and the most spectacularly successful were Republicans — Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson.

Anti-tax sentiment has become so deeply ingrained since the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978 that any GOP legislator who dares vote for a tax or fee increase is all but assured of losing the next primary election to a more ardent anti-tax candidate. Political ideology — and the public’s knee-jerk response — trumps good public policy.

In earlier days, the governor and lawmakers determined the state’s priorities first and then raised the revenue to pay for them. But now it’s all cuts. ...

To justify this, Schwarzenegger falls back on an old argument: “The people already are paying enough taxes,” he says, and higher levies will be counterproductive.

But how high is enough? The level of state and local taxes paid by Californians is just about the same as it was in 1970: 11.5 percent of income now, compared with 11.1 percent. The first big budget deficit in the last half a century was inherited by Reagan in 1967. He grandly declared “we will squeeze, cut and trim” state government and proclaimed a 10 percent across-the-board whack. But as Reagan learned then, and Schwarzenegger is learning now, across-the-board cuts — as simple and fair as they may sound — just don’t work. They fall unfairly on some crucial programs. No one would seriously suggest cutting the California Highway Patrol by 10 percent, for example. And the state Constitution and federal law prohibit other cuts, including some welfare programs.

Reagan ended up approving a $1 billion tax increase on a $6 billion annual budget, which was, proportionately, the biggest tax increase in state history. It left a fat treasury for his successor, Jerry Brown, but much of that was doled out to cities and counties to make up for property taxes slashed by Proposition 13. (The state got that back later by grabbing more than $1 billion of local revenues. The locals, of course, raised their own taxes to make up for the loss.)

As cannot be repeated enough: Reagan raised taxes as president, too.