LAS VEGAS -- Gov. Jerry Brown, who is considering what tax increases to propose to voters in November 2012, acknowledged this morning that polls are generally unfavorable but said voters might approve sales and income taxes.
"Sales and income could pass under certain circumstances," he told The Bee. "It could. And it couldn't."
Brown said that such a measure would require broad-based support.
"That means business, that means agriculture, that means labor, that means no significant body to jump up and down and stigmatize it," the Democratic governor said before speaking this afternoon at a green energy summit in Las Vegas.
Brown has been considering a November 2012 ballot measure since he abandoned his bid this summer for temporary tax extensions in a budget deal. Labor leaders who could fund such a campaign believe they must settle on a plan within about two months.
Brown said he might not use any of the $5 million or so left over from his gubernatorial campaign to fund the effort.
But he suggested he could be useful anyway. His public approval rating, he said, looks "awfully good," though he said approval ratings "come and they go." In June, the Field Poll put his public approval rating at 46 percent.
"We're in a period of turbulence and discontent," Brown said, "and that's perilous for politicians."
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