Brown's tax plan running into immediate roadblocks

What would you expect - the proposal has "taxes" in the heading. The governor wants to eliminate a tax break that allows companies to pick the cheaper of two formulas when calculating their tax liability. In its place, he would have a 3 percent sales tax exemption on purchases of manufacturing equipment - as well as a nearly 4 percent sales tax exemption on startup businesses. The net result, he said, would provide a means of creating jobs (really?). "We know that if you want ... jobs, you want to reduce the burden," he said. "This will reduce the burden by a billion dollars a year" (really?) Republican lawmakers, a few of whom he would need to get this through the legislature, didn't quite see it that way. From Capitol Alert:

"It's creative packaging, but we've had the opportunity to do something on jobs all year," said Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar. "So, it's interesting that the biggest overture is packaging a stinky tax increase with things for the business community. Job creation ought to stand on its own, not saddle businesses, and by extension, consumers, with over a billion dollars in taxes."

I must say this seems kind of thin - certainly not worth making a big fuss over, and certainly not likely to mean much for California businesses. Of course, the reality is that there's not much state and local governments can do to stimulate job creation - as much as the rhetoric might suggest otherwise.