Gov. Jerry Brown knows that it’s difficult to persuade California voters to raise taxes, even those they may not pay themselves, as rejection of a new cigarette tax this month underscores.

In fact, polls indicate that his chances of winning approval of his multibillion-dollar sales and income tax measure in November are, at this moment, no better than 50-50.

As he fashioned the 2012-13 budget, therefore, he wanted to impress voters that he’s being tight with their money – hence, his public squabbling with Democrats over services for the poor, his furloughs for state workers, his agency reorganization and his pleas for pension reform.

via Dan Walters: Is California’s budget now relatively lower than during the Reagan era?.