Governor Pitches Tax Hike to GOP

For years, Gov. George Deukmejian had preached to unified Republicans about the evils of tax increases. But on Saturday, he stood before a divided GOP state convention and urged delegates to support the biggest gasoline tax hike in California history.

The governor who had prided himself in “holding the line on taxes,” the fiscal conservative who had railed against Democratic “tax and spenders,” now was asking Republicans for a personal favor: Join him in persuading voters to raise a tax he previously had denounced as an onerous burden on the poor.

“It is different, no question about it,” he told reporters who wondered whether it seemed strange to be asking Republicans for a tax increase.

And, yes, “there’s no denying that an increase in the fuel tax will fall more heavily on people who are in lower-income brackets than it will on people who are in higher brackets,” he conceded. “As you know, this was not my first choice.”

At issue are two measures on the June 5 ballot, Propositions 108 and 111. The key measure, Proposition 111, would allow doubling of the state gasoline tax over a five-year period from the present 9 cents per gallon to 18 cents. It also would raise the state spending limit so the increased taxes could be used for a 10-year, $18.5-billion highway and transportation improvement program.

Proposition 108 would authorize a $1-billion bond issue, the first of three under the plan.

Deukmejian’s first choice had been to rely solely on bond financing, but voters narrowly rejected that idea two years ago.

The support of tax-fearing Republicans is crucial to passage of Proposition 111 because they normally vote in large numbers. “George Deukmejian is probably the best person to persuade these voters; they have a special trust in him,” said the governor’s chief of staff, Michael R. Frost.

The difficulty of Deukmejian’s task was illustrated by a recent Times poll, which found California conservatives of both parties approving of his job performance by 4 to 1, but opposing Proposition 111 by 3 to 2.

So the lame-duck governor went before the Republican delegates on Saturday and told them: “You know me well enough to know I would never support or vote for any tax increase unless I believed it was absolutely essential to the future prosperity of our state.”

The delegates seemed to have mixed feelings, responding to his long exhortation with four interruptions of mild applause.

Many conservative GOP officeholders--such as Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, U.S. Rep. William E. Dannemeyer of Fullerton and Assemblyman William P. Baker of Danville--were swallowing hard to support the tax hike. “A gas tax is in a category all its own; it’s a user tax,” rationalized Dannemeyer, echoing a theme being used by other conservatives supporting Proposition 111.

But not everybody was buying it--least of all former U.S. Treasurer Angela (Bay) Buchanan. “I’m opposed to that,” she told reporters.

And in a slap at the Deukmejian Administration, she added: “I do not believe we’re spending our money as wisely as we should. I do not believe it’s an efficient government here in California, especially when it comes to the gasoline tax. So I do not think we should send more money to Sacramento.”

Many rank-and-file Republican delegates also spoke out vehemently against the gas tax increase during interviews. “I’m not for a tax increase at all,” said Sara Di Vito Hardman of Tarzana, who owns a small business that manufactures restaurant furniture. “When you raise taxes, you take money out of people’s pockets, sucking it right out of the economy.”

“God bless ‘em,” said Assemblyman Baker, referring to such conservatives. “I wish I could tell them they’re wrong; they’re not--but they’re wrong this time.”