My colleague Keegan Kyle and I teamed up today for a Fact Check on mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher’s record on taxes in the state Assembly.
Beyond the pro- and anti-Fletcher mailers featured in that piece, the deal Fletcher negotiated with Gov. Jerry Brown to raise taxes on out-of-state businesses and lower them on in-state companies continues to come up on the campaign trail.
That’s because of Fletcher’s day job.
Assembly Speaker John Pérez now wants to eliminate the same out-of-state tax break that Fletcher and Brown targeted previously. But instead of a tax cut for in-state businesses, Pérez plans to redirect the $1 billion in revenues to college scholarships for middle-class families. Like the Brown deal, the Pérez bill needs two Republican votes from each house of the Legislature to pass.
Fellow mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio has hammered Fletcher for absenteeism at the state house and pointed out that Fletcher has failed to make recent committee votes on the Pérez bill.
In an interview last week, Fletcher said he had “some concerns” with the bill and was in negotiations with Pérez. One of Fletcher’s concerns, he said, was that it would be a tax increase.
“I would like it to be revenue neutral, but at the end of the day I want a bill that I believe is the best way to advance economic competitiveness,” Fletcher said.
Liam Dillon is a news reporter for Voice of San Diego. He covers San Diego City Hall, the 2012 mayor’s race and big building projects. What should he write about next?
Please contact him directly at liam.dillon@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5663.
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