There's some disagreement among politicians and academicians over the level of Californians' tax burden because there are different ways of measuring it. But broadly speaking, California's state and local taxes are at least a bit above the national average, primarily because its relatively low property taxes are offset by relatively high income and sales taxes.

If Gov. Gray Davis and his fellow Democrats in the Legislature have their way, those taxes will increase by at least $8 billion a year and push California into the top half-dozen states in terms of burden. But whether taxes should be boosted has emerged as the stickiest issue as Davis and legislators wrestle with an immense budget deficit.

While Davis advocates some new taxes, and liberal legislators want to go even further, Republicans stubbornly insist that the state's budget woes are the product of overspending and must be solved through budget cuts. And GOP lawmakers can enforce that view because passing a budget and raising taxes require two-thirds legislative votes.

As the stalemate continues in the Capitol, contending political factions -- and outside interest groups with stakes in the outcome -- are vying for public opinion. The Education Coalition, dominated by the powerful California Teachers Association, has, for example, launched a public campaign to pressure Republicans into voting for Davis' budget, which includes new sales and income taxes and higher property taxes on cars.

It appears, however, that the advocates of new taxes inside and outside the Capitol are pushing the ball uphill because Californians are not enamored of giving government more from their paychecks in a period of economic uncertainty.

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) surveyed Californians on precisely that issue and found little support for new taxes, with the singular exception of higher levies on cigarettes, although PPIC's polls also found little appetite for deep spending cuts.

Although Davis' income tax proposal would affect a relative handful of high-income taxpayers, just 45 percent of those polled support it, while 48 percent are opposed -- and support has dropped from 52 percent in the last four months. Strong majorities also oppose new sales taxes, and the notion of raising vehicle license fees, a property tax on cars, draws the heaviest opposition.

The reluctance to raise taxes clearly is tied to the finding that economic uncertainty tops the list of Californians' worries and to the very poor standing that Davis and other politicians have. A whopping 75 percent of those polled by PPIC said they disapprove of Davis' performance in office, and a plurality indicates it would back a recall if given the opportunity.

The PPIC poll reinforced one of the most enduring themes of California politics a quarter-century after the state's voters adopted the historic Proposition 13, which slashed property taxes and ignited what came to be known as the "tax revolt." While the state has tended to vote Democratic in recent elections, its voters largely reject a basic Democratic Party tenet that taxes should be increased as needed to support services it considers vital. The Republicans' inability to capitalize on that continuing anti-tax sentiment testifies to their tone-deaf approach to political campaigning.

A number of school districts confronted Californians' skepticism about new taxes in early June when they asked local voters to approve parcel taxes -- a restricted form of property taxation -- to prevent cutbacks in school services as the state contemplates cuts in state aid to education. Nineteen districts sought parcel taxes, but fewer than half of them mustered the required two-thirds majorities.

The most telling aspect of the parcel tax elections is that even voters in affluent, politically liberal communities -- Manhattan Beach, San Jose and Mountain View, for example -- were leery about diverting more of their incomes into schools, which are the most popular branches of government.

New taxes may, indeed, be needed to bring some balance and rationality to a seriously dysfunctional state-local finance system in California, but they are a hard sell to a public that doesn't trust those who advocate them.