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3 New Tax Measures Have Qualified for November Ballot

By Brian Frank
June 25, 2012
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Gov. Jerry Brown in May discussing $8.3 billion in cuts to help close a projected $16 billion budget shortfall. (Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Gov. Jerry Brown in May discussing $8.3 billion in cuts to help close a projected $16 billion budget shortfall. (Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Gov. Jerry Brown's tax initiative has been cleared for the November general election along with two other tax-related ballot measures that qualified last week.

The governor's plan would temporarily increase income taxes for Californians who make more than $250,000 a year and raise the sales tax by a quarter cent. The revenues would go to fund education.

A competing measure from attorney Molly Munger would also raise taxes to help pay for the state's beleaguered education system. Munger's plan would increase income tax rates on a sliding scale for all but the poorest residents, with those earning more than $2.5 million a year paying the most.

The third measure aims to extract more revenues from multistate businesses that make money from sales in California. The so-called "California Clean Energy Jobs Act" would require such businesses to calculate their income tax liability based on the percentage of sales in the state. Currently, they have more than one option for calculating their tax liability. Additional revenues would go toward funding projects that promote clean energy and energy efficiency.

Thursday is the last day for initiative proponents to collect enough signatures to qualify their measures for the November ballot. Eight other measures have qualified so far.

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