Volume 30 · Number 1 · Fall 2012
Dueling ballot measures
Rival measures on the Nov. 6 ballot — Proposition 30 by Gov. Jerry Brown and Proposition 38 by attorney Molly Munger — seek to create new revenues for education through tax increases.
Here, at a glance, is what each measure would do, if approved by voters. If both measures should pass, only the one with the most “yes” votes would take effect.
Proposition 30 — Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012 — would:
- Raise California’s sales tax to 7.5 percent from 7.25 for four years.
- Create three new high-income tax brackets for taxpayers with taxable incomes exceeding $250,000, $300,000, and $500,000. This increased tax will be in effect for seven years.
- Establish a 10.3 percent tax rate on taxable income over $250,000 but less than $300,000 — a percentage increase of 9.71 percent. The 10.3 percent income tax rate is currently only paid by taxpayers with over $1 million in taxable income.
- Set an 11.3 percent tax rate on taxable income over $350,000 but less than $500,000 — a percentage increase of 17.7 percent.
- Establish a 12.3 percent tax rate on taxable income over $500,000 — a percentage increase of 24.39 percent.
- Allocate 89 percent of these revenues to K-12 schools and 11 percent to community colleges.
- Add to the constitution a tax shift to local governments to pay for incarceration and state services realigned in 2011.
Proposition 38 — Our Children, Our Future: Local School and Early Education Investment and Bond Debt Reduction Act — would:
- Increase personal income tax rates for annual earnings over $7,316 using a sliding scale from .4 percent for lowest individual earners to 2.2 percent for individuals earning over $2.5 million.
- Designate most of the new revenue of $10 billion for public school districts and early childhood development programs.
- The income tax increase would end after 12 years, unless voters reauthorize it.
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