Hefty estate taxes make sense, but in California they are complicated by houses in the urban regions whose values are hugely inflated, and by myriad small family farms. It will not affect only the top 0.2% of Californians, and for political reasons will be a long slog, not a quick fix.
The Reclaim California Higher Education project has offered an alternative, which would involve a marginal increase in the income tax (under $50/year on average), and can be implemented tomorrow. (Some of this is complicated by last year’s auditor’s report on UCOP, which shows that Napolitano’s office is out of control.)
