Taxpayers may face big trouble next year if Tony Strickland isn't counted as the winner in California"s 19th Senate District.

The Sac Bee's Kevin Yamamura reports that one of Schwarzenegger's few endorsed candidates this Election cycle signed a no-tax pledge with Americans for Tax Reform.  While Strickland is a friend of Schwarzenegger, things could get sticky in the budget debate: 

...Strickland isn't so independent that he's willing to buck his party on the budget. He signed an anti-tax pledge with the Americans for Tax Reform, vowing to "vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes."

A Democratic win in that seat would mean Schwarzenegger would need only one GOP vote in the new State Senate to approve taxes, rather than two, making it easier for him to pick off a Republican in the upper house.

Schwarzenegger, of course, proposed more taxes yesterday than he ever has before, from a 1.5-cent sales tax hike to new levies on beer, golf, sporting events and amusement parks. Republicans are vowing to oppose those proposals.

Read more at: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/016831.html