Voters reject Prop. 24, keeping corporate tax breaks in place

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California voters Tuesday rejected a call by California teachers unions to repeal a series of tax breaks for corporations, according to preliminary voting results.

In 2009, state lawmakers passed a slew of new taxes to help balance the state’s books. To get Republican votes for those tax increases, Democrats agreed to roll back a series of taxes on California businesses. The price tag of those corporate tax cuts was an estimated $2.1 billion.

The California Teachers Assn. led the charge for Prop. 24, arguing that those tax breaks will reduce spending on public schools. Corporate taxes are part of the state revenue formula that determines minimum state spending on public schools and community colleges. When tax revenues decrease, so does the state’s school funding guarantee.

Most of those tax breaks, which change the rules about how companies can write off business losses, were scheduled to go into effect in January 2011. But they were delayed by the Legislature as part of this year’s budget deal. Those tax breaks would have been permanently repealed if Prop. 24 had passed.

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-- Anthony York