Brown preparing budget that will make all sides grumble

The governor-elect is expected to make deep cuts in state services, including welfare programs and university systems, and knock out tax breaks and subsidies for business, including enterprise zone tax credits that have very little effect in creating jobs. As reported by the LAT, Brown also wants to extend temporary tax hikes on vehicles, income and sales that are set to expire next July. That could be prove tricky, since he pledged during the campaign not not to raise taxes without voters' approval - and he'd need a two-thirds vote of the legislature to get the measure on a special ballot. That means having to secure a few Republican votes.

The combination of austere spending and extended tax hikes is designed to confront both parties and their allied interest groups with painful choices that Brown says are necessary to truly resolve the state's massive budget problems. He intends to take swift action, using the political capital of a new governor to confront a deficit that could easily subsume his governorship.

[CUT]

His strategy is risky. Voters already overwhelmingly rejected extending the temporary vehicle, sales, and income taxes in May 2009, months after lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger enacted them. But political strategists say private polls show that voters are far more willing to extend existing taxes than to levy new ones.

Sounds good, although one side or another is sure to gripe about taking a bigger hit.