Angelides Budget Proposal Includes Health Insurance Plan

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides on Wednesday said if he is elected he would adopt a broad fiscal agenda that includes $1.4 billion in tax cuts, mostly for middle-class residents, the Los Angeles Times reports. At the same time, Angelides restated his support to increase spending by $1.5 billion to fund health care coverage for children, education and other programs.

Angelides proposed:

$788 million in tax cuts for families earning up to $100,000 annually;
$526 million in small business tax cuts; and
$88 million in property tax relief and rent subsidies for low-income, disabled and elderly residents.

The candidate also called for more than $5 billion in tax increases on corporations, individual state residents who earn more than $250,000 annually, and couples who earn more than $500,000 annually. Angelides' campaign said those tax increases as well as "efficiencies and government reform" would generate enough revenue to close the state's deficit and create nearly $500 million in reserves by June 2008 (Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 8/17).

The tax cuts would apply to more than four million state residents, Angelides said (Geissinger, Oakland Tribune, 8/17).

Employer Mandate

Angelides also announced a proposal to "require corporations with more than 200 employees to offer health insurance to their workers." Under Proposition 72, California voters in 2004 voted 51% to 49% to repeal a similar state law (Marinucci/Chorneau, San Francisco Chronicle, 8/17). The plan would expand health insurance coverage to about 600,000 state residents, according to the AP/Modesto Bee (AP/Modesto Bee, 8/16).

Angelides criticized Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) for "coddl[ing]" the health care industry while premiums significantly increase, raising college tuition and fees, and failing to control rising gas prices (Garcia/Folmar, Contra Costa Times, 8/17).

The Angelides campaign would not provide details on how he would pay for policies he has endorsed but did not include in his budget proposal, the Sacramento Bee reports.

Republicans criticized Angelides, saying the policies he supports would increase state spending by billions of dollars. The Schwarzenegger campaign "dismissed [Angelides'] new budget framework as unrealistic," according to the Bee (Benson, Sacramento Bee, 8/17).

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