Governor on California Tax Hike Plan: ‘I Hate Taxes’

In an interview Sunday on This Week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger argued that like his state, which is facing a runaway deficit of nearly $28 billion, industries and governments must cut back.

"Anyone that wants to go and think that they don’t have to shift down make changes, if it is states, if it is local government, if it is the auto industry or any other industry as far as that goes, they’re living in a dream world or in a fantasy world," Schwarzenegger said.

"We’ve got to find ways to cut down because there’s not much money around now — it’s a different world," he said.

The anti-tax California Governor has proposed more than $10 billion in spending cuts and $14 billion in tax increases, including a "temporary" 1 1/2-cent increase in the sales tax — which critics say could further curtail spiraling consumer spending.

But Schwarzenegger suggested his states’ fiscal problems trump conservative ideology against taxes.

"It is very hard when you have to increase taxes," Schwarzenegger said. "I don’t want to do it. I hate taxes, I hate the word taxes…But there’s certain times when you have to forget about the ideology and all of those things and fix problems."

–George Stephanopoulos