On March 2, voters soundly defeated Proposition 56, a measure designed to make it easier for state government to increase taxes. The voters also gave Governor Schwarzenegger an overwhelming victory in approving Propositions 57 and 58, which he has described as critical to solving California's budget problems without raising taxes.

Yet, recent published reports have quoted the governor as saying that on the question of tax increases, "It's just not something you want to go [with] at this point. That doesn't mean that later on some day you cannot go there." Please, Governor, say it ain't so.

California has had a spending problem, not a taxing problem. During Gov. Gray Davis's first two years in office, state general fund spending shot up 35 percent. We have been living with the hangover of this extended spending binge ever since. Indeed, even with passage of the governor's ballot measures, we may still have a several-billion-dollar structural deficit that must be addressed in 2005.

One of the principal reasons voters ousted Davis in last year's historic recall is that they realized he had no plan or desire to fix this structural deficit. They placed their faith in Governor Schwarzenegger, who pledged to solve this financial crisis without raising taxes. Thanks to the mandate he earned and his sound stewardship of state affairs since taking office, no governor has ever been in a stronger position to exercise the leadership necessary to rein in the Legislature's habitually excessive spending.

The budget proposed by the governor in January was and is a sound proposal. It is based on making actual spending cuts in many areas of government. It deserves enactment. Yet even with all of its belt-tightening, general fund spending under the governor's budget will still grow by 5.4 percent over the current year once you adjust for the funding shifts contained in the proposal.

The governor's budget also projects that revenues will grow in the future. In fact, revenues in 2005-06 are expected to be 10 percent higher than in 2002-03, which may happen given the cyclical nature of any recovery. Historically, the state's revenues have grown at an average rate of 6 percent per year, and I think this will be the case again over the longer term. Reports that revenues in January and February did not meet estimates are, I hope, simply a temporary impact of a slightly slower economic recovery here.

With spending already slated for a further increase, what is the smart and fair thing to do? Burden our citizens by raising their taxes, thereby stalling economic recovery and the very revenue growth the administration is banking on? Or attack the problem at its source, which is overspending, and make the additional reductions in the cost and size of government? A tax increase would not solve California's structural deficit gap. Instead it would seriously undercut the good work the governor is doing to improve our business climate and create new jobs for Californians.

If the voters thought that their taxes could be increased when they entered the voting booth on March 2, would they have endorsed the governor's proposals as they did? I doubt it.

During his short time in office, Governor Schwarzenegger has already made impressive strides towards restoring the people's trust in their elected leaders. Keep up the good work, Governor, and don't back down now!

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About the Writer

Bill Simon was the Republican candidate for governor in 2002.