SACRAMENTO - John Melone says he'll probably have to cut back on his heart medications to make rent now that the state is eliminating the renter's tax credit that saved him $316 a year.
The 73-year-old retiree says he has come to expect that people on low or fixed incomes always are the first to take the burdens of the state's budget woes, but he does not like it.
"We're catching it from every angle, particularly seniors and the disabled," said Melone, a former medical social worker who pays $500 a month for a room in a friend's Richmond home. "This is ridiculous, that people in their 70s have to decide they have to take a pill every other day so they can make rent."
A member of Richmond's Commission on Aging and of the Senior Action Network, Melone will be one of thousands joining a statewide protest today against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to cut a $191 million program that subsidizes low-income renters and homeowners.
Schwarzenegger targeted the program in October as part of $510 million in budget item vetoes, and he is unlikely to restore it next year, said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the Department of Finance.
A key was the need to build up the state's reserve for firefighting, which cost $524 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30 and is ballooning this year.
"We knew that two things were certain - that the state's economy would remain in a long slump and we were in for another bad fire year," Palmer said.
"No decisions have been made in the governor's budget for January, but that said, we're looking at another shortfall, and "... all signs are indicating we have another tough year ahead of us." The shortfall could be as much as $28 billion in the next two years.
Renters took the largest hit. The governor saved about $150 million by eliminating the renter's credit and $41 million in homeowners rebates. More than 467,000 renters will not be able to claim the credit when they file next year's taxes - those with a household income of $44,096, are 62 and older, disabled or blind. The maximum renter credit was $347; homeowners could claim $340.
Low-income homeowners - those with a household income of $35,500 or less - could fare better, Palmer said, by applying for property tax postponement, a program that remains intact.
Advocates for renters say the governor has shown little respect for or understanding of people with limited means.
"This is an outrageous and cowardly cut," said Dean Preston, executive director for Tenants Together, a statewide renters' rights organization, which led the fight against Proposition 98 last spring.
"Pulling this money from disabled, blind and seniors is probably the last place you should pull from. We're going to do everything we can to get the funds restored. With enough outcry around the state, we'll ultimately prevail."
Today's protests are planned in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, but renter's rights groups will also coordinate e-mail blasts to other membership organizations such as AARP and the California Alliance for Retired Americans to pressure the administration and lawmakers.
Until last summer, the governor had avoided exploring the idea of raising taxes, they say, and when he acknowledged the need, his first idea was to raise the sales tax, which would have hit the working class disproportionately.
"He's showing himself as being a real conservative, especially on fiscal issues by cutting services and programs while refusing to tax people who are doing really well," said Adam Gold, a director of Just Cause Oakland, a tenants' rights group.
"It's just not the time to be taking money out of low-income pockets."
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