California prides itself on its progressive income tax, with people earning high incomes paying a huge share of state taxes. The top 10 percent of filers pay 75 percent of personal income taxes. But when their income drops, as it did when the technology boom went bust in early 2000, the state treasury crashes. -- NY Times, December 9, 2002.

State Assemblyman Wesson has an idea on how to help. "The way you do it is to put absolutely everything on the table, every conceivable cut, every conceivable way to raise taxes," he said. "Then you sort out what is the least painful and what is the most fair."