Gov. Brown Submits Signatures For Tax Ballot Measure

SACRAMENTO (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown made a personal appeal Thursday for California voters to support his tax-hike initiative, saying their support is crucial because the state's finances have been "screwed up" for a decade.

The Democratic governor submitted a batch of signature petitions in Sacramento, as his campaign announced it had gathered 1.5 million signatures. The initiative needs about 807,000 valid signatures to qualify.

"For more than a decade, the budget has been screwed up, an incredible mess bringing down our credit rating, causing a lot of anxiety and uncertainty," Brown said outside the Sacramento County registrar's office. "This has taken a long time to mess up, and we are going to undo it and fix it over a period of years."

The development comes just days after a group funded by wealthy civil rights attorney Molly Munger turned in its petitions for a separate tax initiative.

Brown said he is focused on doing his job of balancing the budget and protecting schools and public safety. He was accompanied by his wife, Anne Gust Brown, and his dog Sutter.

"I need to get this initiative passed so that's my focus," he said. "And all the other people that are involved in other things, God bless them, but I've got my job."

Under Brown's initiative, California would temporarily raise the state's sales tax by a quarter-cent and increase the income tax on people who make $250,000 or more. Brown is projecting his tax initiative would raise as much as $9 billion but a review by the nonpartisan analyst's office estimates revenue of $6.8 billion in fiscal year 2012-13.

The governor is expected to update the state's budget deficit Monday and propose additional reductions on top of billions of dollars that have been cut from schools, colleges, health care and social services in recent years.

The state shortfall was pegged in January at $9.2 billion, or about 10 percent of the general fund. But the governor said last month that the gap has widened as lawsuits blocked the state from making cuts. Democratic lawmakers who control the Legislature also have resisted additional cuts this year to health and social service programs.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.)