Just What We Need--NEW (and improved!) Taxes

If California is in such great economic shape--and the governor is always telling us how great things are--why does the state need new taxes to pay for the most basic state responsibilities?

More than two months after calling a special session to address California's transportation funding backlog, Gov. Jerry Brown has begun circulating a list of administration proposals on how to pay for it, including a $65 annual fee for drivers and increases in the diesel and gas taxes tied to inflation.

A one-page "transportation package" released Thursday calls for $3.6 billion a year for repairs to California's crumbling transportation infrastructure. The $65 charge would generate $2 billion a year, while $500 million would come from fees charged to polluters and $100 million from so-called "efficiencies" at Caltrans, which the independent state legislative analyst has said is overstaffed.