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Jerry Brown defends campaign claim promoting ‘millionaires’ tax’

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Gov. Jerry Brown defended his new campaign website’s characterization of his proposed tax increase as “a millionaires’ tax,” even though it hikes levies on people who make more than $250,000 per year.

“Anybody who makes $250,000 becomes a millionaire very quickly, if you save,” Brown told reporters in Sacramento on Wednesday.

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Brown said he had not yet seen the site, although it was promoted by his Twitter feed earlier in the day. The site calls his plan “a millionaires’ tax that asks the richest Californians to pay their fair share to help fund public education and vital public services, pays down the debt we owe to schools, and does not raise income taxes on the poor or middle class.”

The proposal, which Brown wants to place on the November ballot, would hike levies on incomes of more than $250,000 for seven years, and include a quarter-cent sales tax increase for four years.

“It is a millionaires’ tax. It taxes millionaires,” Brown said, but assured reporters he would check on the campaign’s assertion. “I’ll take a look at it and make sure that it’s the most accurate it can be.”

Brown agreed to rewrite his proposal earlier this month in exchange for a coalition of labor and liberal groups dropping their proposal to hike taxes on incomes of $1 million or more.

Related links:

Jerry Brown seeks rewrite of tax initiative

Modified Jerry Brown tax proposal would hit wealthy harder

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Gov. Jerry Brown’s new tax plan has strong support, poll finds

--Anthony York in Sacramento

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