Assemblyman Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) today released the following statement in reaction to yesterday's announcement by Governor Jerry Brown to place an initiative on the ballot to enact a "temporary" tax hike for the next five years meant to raise $35 billion.

"This does not surprise me," said Nielsen. "The governor's only solution to state budget problems, since day one has been to relentlessly advocate for raising taxes on the people of California. The governor should instead strive to end the reckless spending, reform state agencies and change a broken pension system instead of taking the tired, old liberal route of more and more taxes."

Nielsen pointed out that, in fact, the Legislative Analyst projects "the Big Three" tax revenues (personal income, sales, and corporation taxes) will grow by a healthy 4.7 % next year, but state spending will increase by a whopping 12.3% in the same period; and, the projections from the governor's own Department of Finance project spending increases of more than 24% over the next three years.

"If your bucket has a great big hole in it, you will never succeed in filling it," said Nielsen. "The first thing the Legislature and this Governor must do is stop spending more than the state brings in.The answer simply cannot be more taxes, since we all know how fragile this economy is and that hundreds of thousands of Californians are out of work. It's long overdue for us to get serious about the governor's and Legislature's spending addiction, to truly change how government serves the citizens by reigning in our out of control bureaucracy."