Tax Debate Again Looms in Calif.

California Gov. Jerry Brown, whose state has teetered through repeated budget crises in recent years and made major school spending cuts, is again pitching tax hikes as a way to avoid further reductions in education.

The governor, a Democrat, used his annual State of the State address last week to promote a plan to ask California voters in November to approve taxes on individuals earning more than $250,000 a year, and to raise sales and use taxes by half a percent, both...