California Democrats Want New Apple I-Tunes Tax to Fund Bigger Government

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

A political fight over raising taxes to help solve California's fiscal crisis was touched off Wednesday when Democratic lawmakers proposed taxing big oil to help pay for threatened public education programs.

ABX3 9, introduced by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, would have raised $1.2 billion a year by taxing oil firms' windfall profits and through a separate tax on petroleum that is pumped in California.

The bill, which required a two-thirds vote to pass, was defeated on the Assembly floor after Republicans refused to vote for the new taxes. But several other Democrat-authored tax bills are likely to stir heated debate in the coming months as lawmakers try to close an $8 billion gap between the state's revenue and its expenses.

The bills include a sales tax on music downloaded over the Internet via stores such as iTunes; increased income taxes on the wealthy; and new fees on large or gas-guzzling automobiles.

Núñez said he would support new taxes as long as they don't "hurt the working class." Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, also has said he would like to consider new revenues, including temporary tax increases.

Some Democrats in California think California's government workers should retire in style and young:on the backs of people who download music.How compassionate.