Great job going through the details of the counter proposals from the legislature. However, to dismiss, as Anthony does, the tax plans as a failure to address the fundamental problem with the state budget misses the bigger point. The state's requirement to balance the budget forces bad economic policy onto the state at the worst possible time. Borrowing at this time to balance the budget is wise insofar as it avoids more budget cuts (or taxes, if they were even possible) which would extend this recession. The "machinations" used to make this proposal and others like it legal are the result of, not the cause or example of, California's dysfunctional rules of governance.