Tax plans prove popular despite governor's vow.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger still insists on no new taxes, but that hasn't stopped others from proposing a slew of state and local levies, many of which would hit businesses hard.

What's more, some of these proposals have found support in two recent statewide polls, suggesting that the public may opt for targeted tax increases over deep cuts in services.

"Voters are getting more concerned about the possible ramifications of the budget crisis," said Mark DiCamillo, a pollster with Field Research Corp., which publishes the California Field Poll. "People are telling us they favor some tax increases over deep service cuts."

Four of the tax measures now under consideration are in the signature-gathering phase.

These include a bid by teachers and actor Rob Reiner to raise commercial property taxes statewide by about $5 billion to fund education; a one-percent hike in income tax rates for state taxpayers with incomes over $1 million to fund mental health services; a statewide telephone rate surcharge to raise $550 million a year for emergency and medical services; and a half-cent hike in L.A. County's sales tax to raise $500 million to fund law enforcement agencies.

If these measures collect enough signatures, they will face voters on the November ballot.

Several other proposals aiming for that same ballot are in the discussion stage. Among them: a five-year, half-cent hike in the state sales tax; increasing the tax rate on the state's upper-income taxpayers from the current 9.3 percent to 11 percent; and boosting either local sales taxes or property taxes to fund the hiring of 3,000 more Los Angeles Police Department officers.

This week, the Police Commission will consider the latter proposal, put forward by Commissioner Rick Caruso, although it could be dropped in favor of teaming up with Sheriff Lee Baca's drive to increase the countywide sales tax. "We probably won't want two competing proposals on the same ballot," Caruso said.

Indeed, with so many tax proposals now lining up for the November ballot, there is some concern of voter backlash.

"We know it's an uphill battle," said Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for Sheriff Baca. "It just means we will have to work harder to establish the direct link in voters' minds between the tax increase we're proposing and law enforcement."

Anti-tax groups, meanwhile, will have no shortage of campaign targets if several of these measures make it onto the November ballot. They see the drive to pass taxes as a diversion from what they believe the real goal should be: reducing spending, both at the state and local levels.

"What you're seeing here is people taking the path that offers the least initial resistance," said Larry McCarthy, president of the California Taxpayers Association. "But any elected officials who believe the public now supports raising taxes do so at their own peril. Remember, just last October, nearly two-thirds of voters cast their votes for a gubernatorial candidate who promised not to raise taxes."

Schwarzenegger has repeatedly said he is against raising taxes. At the news conference accompanying the release of his 2004-05 budget, the governor said that raising the taxes on the wealthiest Californians would cause them to free to other states, thus hurting the overall economy.

But proponents of the tax hikes suggest that Schwarzenegger is out of step with voters.

"If the governor wants to be popular, he is not following the people's wishes here," said Mitchel Benson, spokesman for state Treasurer Phil Angelides. "He's instead going through with billions of dollars in borrowing and cuts that will harm the state's economy, not help it."

Both the California Field Poll and the Public Policy of California poll released this month show that raising taxes on the wealthy appears to be popular with voters.

"The overwhelming majority of voters don't regard themselves as wealthy, so this fits into that old maxim: Don't tax me, tax that man behind the tree," said DiCamillo.

More surprising, though, is the increased support over the last six months, DiCamillo said. In the Jan. 15 Field Poll, 61 percent of those surveyed favored raising the tax on single fliers earning more than $100,000 and joint filers earning more than $200,000 from the current 9.3 percent to 11 percent. That's up from six months ago, when only 52 percent of those surveyed favored taxing the rich.

State Sen. President John Burton, D-San Francisco, has in the past proposed just such a hike in income taxes. He repeated his support of the idea at a Jan. 5 news conference, and Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Oakland, has introduced such legislation.

Also popular with voters is a temporary half-cent increase in the sales tax. The Field Poll found 60 percent support for this tax; surprisingly, DiCamillo said, 54 percent of Republicans also supported it.

"I think there's a general perception out there that a half-cent sales tax is really not that big an amount, so why not go ahead with it," he said.

L.A. County Sheriff Baca and several L.A. city councilmembers who have joined his campaign are counting on that sentiment to carry them over the hump.

But the anti-tax Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association will fiercely oppose the effort.

"If this tax passes, L.A. County will have the highest sales tax in the state, equaled only by San Francisco," said Kris Vosburgh, executive director of anti-tax group. "All that will do is prompt Los Angeles residents to go to Ventura County or the Inland Empire to make their big-ticket purchases. I can just see all the ads now from car dealerships in those counties saying, 'Save hundreds of dollars on your taxes when you buy your car here!'"

(A half-cent sales tax increase on a $30,000 vehicle purchase amounts to $150.)

Vosburgh also said that businesses would take a major hit from any sales tax increase, since roughly one third of all sales taxes are paid by businesses when they purchase goods from other businesses.

State Treasurer Phil Angelides, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of Schwarzenegger's $15 billion bond measure on the March ballot, earlier suggested a five-year, half-cent increase in the sales tax as a way to help balance the budget, although an Angelides spokesman said last week that he has since decided to throw his support behind raising the income tax for wealthy Californians.

Also gaining some support is the raising of commercial property taxes to market value. The Public Policy Institute poll found that 60 percent support the idea.

The California Teachers Association is counting on this, as it pushes its initiative to raise commercial property taxes by an estimated $4.6 billion to $5 billion. The extra money would go to K-12 education and pre-school programs.

"The voters have shown time and time again that they understand the need to raise and invest funds in education," campaign spokesman Jim Farrell said.

The question is whether voters will dig into their own pockets on this and several other measures that could be on the November ballot.

"The fact is, voters have shown that they will approve certain types of tax increases for certain types of uses, particularly if they are for saving programs they believe need to be saved," said Dally Sragow, a Democratic political consultant. "It looks like we may put that to the test one more time in November."