Nestande Proposes Tax on Working Families to Close State Budget Gap

Palm Desert, CA - Mark Orozco and his opponent for the open 42nd Assembly District met at the offices of the Desert Sun on September 26 for an endorsement debate. The primary theme running throughout the debate was the State’s budget crisis. The candidates were asked about their positions on the ballot tax proposals and about what items could best be cut from the current budget in an effort to bring it back into balance. While both candidates talked about the need for reform in Sacramento, stark differences appeared over how to deal with the immediate budget problems and about who should bear the brunt of those problems.

Mark Orozco made it clear that he did not like new taxes, especially during an economic downturn. He realizes, however, that our current representatives have failed California and that a temporary tax will give a new crop of elected leaders, like himself, time to work out a more sustainable budget process. Mark was also clear that the temporary tax measures on the November ballot would not be enough to close the budget gap and deep spending cuts and other reforms were still required.

When asked for his position, opponent Brian Nestande tried to play both sides of the issue by simultaneously saying that budget cuts were unnecessary while firmly denying the need for any new tax. When pushed by reporters about how he would solve the budget crisis without either cutting spending or raising taxes, Brian equivocated saying his objective was to replace the State’s entire tax system with a regressive sales only tax plan (a process which would likely take more than a year to implement even if feasible). In response to grilling from Rebecca Walsh of the Desert Sun, Brian admitted that his proposal would hit low income residents hard while leaving wealthy citizens free of any substantive tax. His solution to this untenable result, “issue refund checks to anyone making less than $25,000 a year to compensate for the fact that low income voters would be paying the highest tax rate of any group.” In short, Brian is calling for a tax on working families rather than buckling down to make the difficult choices required for a balanced budget today.

By touting his radical partisan agenda as a solution to California's problems, Brian Nestande demonstrates just how far out of touch he is from the realities of daily life in our communities. This November, let's vote for common sense approaches rather than ideological fantasies and let's make this election about responsible citizenship instead of stubborn partisanship.

Mark is running to represent the newly-drawn 42nd Assembly District. The 42nd District includes San Bernardino County; 29 Palms, Morongo Valley, Yucaipa, Yucca Valley, Landers, Joshua Tree, and Pioneertown, as well as Riverside County; Beaumont, Banning, Cherry Valley, Cabazon, Calimesa, San Jacinto, Hemet, White Water, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta, and Rancho Mirage.

For more information, please visit http://www.markorozco.com.

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