California Budget Smackdown, Part 2

In our , the Republican legislator tag team from Laguna Beach attempted a couple of body slams against letting voters decide Jerry Brown's tax plan.

The governor also had to grapple with the Incredible Shrinking Deficit, which has gone from $15.5 billion to about $9.6 billion thanks to rosier tax revenues, hurting Brown's case for temporary tax increases.

But Brown insists a scaled-down version of his tax measure is still needed to repair state finances for the long haul. 

Republicans aren't buying it. Picking up where our last story left off, state Sen. Tom Harman and Assemblyman Don Wagner, who represent Laguna Beach, offer more rationales for not giving voters final say on Brown's proposal.

Reason No. 3: Cut First, Ask Questions Later

Before asking voters to jack up taxes, state officials should first manage state money better, Republicans say. "We have to shrink the size of government to achieve long-term budget solutions, and that means making some tough choices and tightening our belts," Harman said in a press release.

In the GOP's proposed budget, Republicans called for a 10 percent cut in state employee costs, furlough days for court workers and outsourcing inmate medical care and some child-support and state hospital services. Total savings: $1.8 billion.

Patch analysis: Fraud and waste are neverending problems, although experts disagree on how much money is lost. On the high end, a recent report by the California Taxpayers Association, a business-oriented nonprofit, estimated about $1.6 billion a year was squandered over the last decade. One item not mentioned in the report was the $768,000 that legislators who wrecked their state-issued cars charged taxpayers in recent years.

Sen. Harman, for example, billed the state $1,218 after he backed his state vehicle into a tree in 2007, according to the Sacramento Bee. He zinged taxpayers for another $406 after someone threw a rock through his car window.

As for outsourcing, scores of financially strapped cities and counties around the nation are experimenting with it to reduce costs. California has outsourced state jobs on a limited basis, as has Texas, with mixed success and considerable controversy. Gov. Brown didn't respond to our interview requests, but he recently told the San Francisco Chronicle that Republicans could have made headway on this issue in negotiations to get his tax plan on the ballot.

Reason No. 4: Fixing the Deficit is Sacramento's Job

Harman: "You can’t just keep going to the voters and asking for tax increases every time the economy takes a downturn."

Wagner: "In 2009, voters decided they wanted the legislature to make these decisions.”

Analysis: In theory, it is indeed Sacramento's job to balance the budget. But in reality, under both Republican and Democratic governors, state officials have spent years dodging a day of reckoning. Perhaps that helps explain why just 19 percent of registered voters approve the Legislature's job performance. And that brings us back to our original question: Who should decide Brown's tax plan--politicians or voters?

Do-It-Yourself Budget Chopper

Think you've got what it takes to deep-six California's deficit? Try your hand with the interactive budget balancers created by the Sacramento Bee or L.A. Times. But beware the fine print: Not every program you might like to cut can be touched.

.