New Poll shows Millionaire tax fares best, while Brown is forced to re-file initiative

by Brian Leubitz

Not an entirely good news day for Jerry Brown’s attempt to get some revenue in the system.  First, he is forced to refile his measure because of drafting errors:

Gov. Jerry Brown is taking a mulligan, tripped up by a typographical error and forced to re-file his ballot initiative to raise taxes.

The Democratic governor on Friday filed paperwork with the state for “The Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012- ver. 2.” The measure is identical to one Brown filed in December, the governor said in a filing with the attorney general’s office, “except that we have corrected a typographical error that resulted in two numbers being transposed.”(SacBee)

While this is a bit of annoyance for his efforts to get the measure onto the signature gathering process, his team has allowed plenty of time.  I can’t imagine there will be any major issues caused by the re-filing.

The other big news comes from a leaked poll from the center-right Think Long Committee (funded by rich dude Nicholas Berggruen). The results of a seemingly well-considered scientific poll, just published by CalBuzz, show that the CFT/Courage Campaign “Millionaire’s Tax” leads the pack at a 70/30 split.  Brown’s package is ahead by 62-37, and Molly Munger’s taxes for education just above water at 51-45.  Think Long’s own proposal to extend the sales tax to service was ahead 57-30.

I would have to agree with the Buzzers sentiment that Think Long would probably defer to Brown eventually, especially armed with these numbers.  As I mentioned before about Molly Munger, she is a bit of a wild card. Whether she intends to move forward on her income tax increase for education will play an important role in the fall campaign for these measures.

The CFT/Courage Campaign measure has some broad grassroots support, and has received some positive media attention. However, whether the progressive coalition can come up with enough money to get it on the ballot is an open question.

The revised Brown measure appears over the flip.

Tax Initiative