Campaign frames tax debate around state spending; numerical claims cited without fiscal sourcing

During the briefing, Jamie Herrera Butler pressed a central argument: the state's budget is growing faster than inflation and population, and therefore a new income tax — even if targeted at millionaires — will not solve budgetary issues. Butler said the proposed tax would levy "9.9%" on people making $1,000,000 or more and asserted the state has been "spending almost 16% every budget year" over more than a decade.

Butler also cited historical budget numbers, saying the budget was "around 32" when earlier governors took office and "Today, it's 82." The transcript does not specify what units (for example, billions of dollars) those numbers represent. She further said education funding rose "about 75 or 80%" over roughly a decade while the state's ranking in education outcomes fell to 31st. These numeric claims were stated without cited fiscal analyses or source documents at the briefing.