The Ronnie Show

The taped program was in full color, and it pre-empted prime-time TV shows --from Lost in Space to The Lucy Show --throughout California. The star was that old TV steady, Ronald Reagan, and he had a new sponsor: a Reagan fan club called Californians for a Creative Society, which picked up the $20,000 tab "in the interest of an informed citizenry." What he had to say was news to a lot of people, including most state legislators, who for the first time learned from the tube what the Governor would later ask them to enact in the form of a state budget.

The Ronnie Show was really a preview of California's gubernatorial elections, 20 months off. Reagan, who had previously hinted that he would be a candidate for a second term, sweetened his prospects on TV by informing Californians that his 1969-70 budget would yield them a onetime, across-the-board tax cut of 10%. It would come, conveniently, on next year's tax bill, for which Californians will be filing returns at just about the time Reagan's race would begin in earnest. Not to be outdone, Assembly Minority Leader Jesse Unruh, who seems likely to oppose the Governor, demanded that the tax rebate be applied this year.

Reagan has been under intense pressure to provide some kind of tax relief since he pushed through a $1 billion 1967 tax increase--up 25% over the previous year--whose provisions hit middle-income brackets hardest. He claimed that the additional funds were necessary to pay for the prodigal spending of his predecessor, Pat Brown, but no amount of apologizing could gainsay the fact that he had run on a pledge to keep the cost of government down. Instead, it has gone steadily up; next year's spending will increase 3.9% to $6.2 billion (though the budget will be smaller than that of less populous New York).

Looking tanned and relaxed in the taped appearance, Reagan explained that all increases next year are "fully necessary" to cover increases in the population and inflation. Then, announcing the $100 million income tax reduction, he beamed proudly: "I believe we have started what we hope will be a new trend in government finances."

Financial Fine Point. Democrat Unruh dismissed the plan as a "fraud" on the ground that all of the surplus--due partly to Reagan-imposed economies, partly to an inflationary increase in revenues--will be on hand at the end of the current fiscal year (June 30). Whether or not that should entitle taxpayers to collect it on this year's tax returns (filing deadline: April 15) may be a fine point of finance, but Unruh was the first to admit that it mattered a great deal politically. "He has no right," he objected, "to keep it in the state treasury just so he'll look good as a tax cutter in an election year." He hinted that Democrats might tie up passage of the budget in the Assembly unless it is more to their liking. Since 13 Democratic votes are needed for passage, that was no empty threat.

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