A new kind of inflation

COSTA MESA — A gigantic ATM machine towered over the entrance to the Orange County Market Place Saturday morning, but it didn’t have any cash inside.

Instead, the 12-foot inflatable ATM was there to provide a message to customers heading in to do their morning shopping.

The grassroots organization Americans for Prosperity has transported the portable display to more than 20 locations statewide this year to urge voters to sign a petition opposing higher taxes — and, according to the group, the ATM symbolizes the state’s willingness to draw taxpayers’ money to solve budget problems.

As two dozen people milled around the marketplace entrance and signed forms, three Republican assemblymen — Reps. Van Tran, Chuck DeVore and Jim Silva — spoke to the crowd about the need to free consumer dollars.

“My question to people who live in California is: At what point do you lose your freedom?” said Silva, who is based out of Huntington Beach.

Americans for Prosperity, a nationwide organization with a California chapter, aims to gather 15,000 signatures to send to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislature by the end of June.

The Democrat-led Assembly has proposed scrapping a number of tax breaks and loopholes in an effort to close a budget shortfall, while Schwarzenegger has proposed a one-cent sales tax increase if his plan to borrow from future lottery profits falls through.

According to a fact sheet distributed by Americans for Prosperity, California suffers the fifth-highest tax burden in the nation, and personal income tax accounts for 54% of general fund revenues.

Increasing taxes further, DeVore said, would only put a damper on an economy that is already faltering under a recession.

“Our concern is that you can’t tax your way to prosperity,” he said. “If you raise rates, you get a decline in revenue.”

Evangeline Topa of San Juan Capistrano was among those who stopped by to sign the petition at the marketplace.

“I’ve always been against high taxes, and right now, I just want to do something,” she said.

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com. MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.