Jerry Brown Pitches Plan To Fix's California's $16B Budget Deficit
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to arrive in Los Angeles Monday afternoon to pitch his plan to fix the state's budget deficit.
In a YouTube video posted over the weekend, Brown explains that California's projected deficit ballooned to $16 billion – nearly $7 billion higher than estimates from earlier this year – when the federal government blocked healthcare cuts and lawmakers refused to make other reductions.
Brown, whose budget must be drafted by June 15, is asking voters to approve tax hikes to prevent cuts that would jeopardize public safety.
The plan also calls for a three percent increase on income tax for high earners over the next seven years, as well as a .25 percent state-wide sales tax increase.
"These are people that have worked all their lives, and I mean, actually got out there and did stuff with their hands and worked. But yet these lawmakers want to cut all these programs for them that now that they're in their golden years that they really need," Andy Horn told CBS2.
