Californians pay enough in taxes. In fact, we pay the 4th highest tax burden in the country. Unfortunately, some at the State Capitol want to raise our taxes even more to try and address the state's $17.2 billion budget deficit.

What they fail to understand is that we cannot tax our way out of this problem. More taxes will destroy what we are trying to save - jobs and revenue. Tax increases will hurt families and kill jobs.

Recently Democrats in the State Senate and Assembly introduced their state budget proposals. Their plans would increase taxes by as much as $11.5 billion. They also reject nearly all of the spending reductions Governor Schwarzenegger proposed earlier this year. Instead, their plans would spend more on health and welfare programs, and would actually increase state spending by $3 billion next year.

I believe this is the wrong approach to solving our state budget deficit. Rather than increasing taxes on California's hard-working families, we should be looking at every area of government to see what programs work and what don't. The government programs that are ineffective should be eliminated and we should resist creating new ones. We should also work to eliminate the wasteful bureaucracy that tends to grow and grow in state government.

The only way to stop wasteful government spending is to keep the money with those who earned it in the first place - taxpayers. If the bureaucrats in Sacramento don't have your money, they can't spend your money.

A recent Field Poll reinforces that Californians don't want bigger government or higher taxes. When asked, 63 percent of Californians said they wanted the state budget deficit addressed through spending cuts, while just 26 percent of voters said they favored higher taxes to balance the budget.

It's clear that Californians want the Legislature to keep their hands off their wallets when it comes to balancing the budget. I believe lawmakers should listen to the people, and work together to craft a realistic budget plan that makes sense for California.

We must work together, Republicans and Democrats, to make the tough but necessary choices to get the deficit under control and California back on track. We must have the courage to not shy away from going through the budget line by line to find the responsible savings necessary to bring spending in line with revenue.

We must also end the status quo in Sacramento. I have joined my colleagues in proposing several common-sense reforms we believe will help California live within its means. Republicans want to fix our broken budget system, to end the practice of the state spending more than it takes in each year. We also want to make it easier for government to stretch every tax dollar to the fullest, especially during these tough budget times.

Raising taxes will hurt our economy, threaten jobs and encourage politicians to spend even more on bigger government. I will fight hard against any attempt to raise your taxes. Only when we reject the irresponsible call to raise taxes and get serious about stopping overspending will be able to put together the balanced budget the people of California deserve.

Assemblyman Cameron Smyth (R - Santa Clarita) represents the 38th District in the California State Assembly.