Buoyed by a poll showing flagging support for Proposition 30, opponents of Gov. Jerry Brown's tax initiative on the Nov. 6 ballot came to Fresno Thursday to drive home their point that it is bad policy.

Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, joined with John Kabateck, executive director for California at the National Federation of Independent Business, to blast the initiative.

"Prop. 30 is a $50 billion tax increase -- what more can you say?" Coupal said outside of BRE Software at the corner of Blackstone and Nees avenues in northwest Fresno.

The news conference comes two days after Brown came through Fresno on a tour of key cities to shore up support for the initiative, which would increase the state's sales tax by a quarter cent for four years and raise income taxes on people who make more than $250,000 a year for seven years.

Supporters have said the extra money would go to fund K-12 schools and help balance the state's budget. In his Tuesday visit, Brown said it wasn't just about education, it was also about jobs.

But both Coupal and Kabateck said broadening the definition is just a move of desperation by Brown. The bottom line, they said, is that it would give more money to Sacramento, when the state government has shown it will not or cannot control spending.

The sales tax by itself, the duo said, would hurt business. Kabateck said he was "outraged with Sacramento politicians who continue to treat Main Street like an ATM."

Brad Roltgen, the owner of BRE, said what the state needs is "tax cuts, not tax increases."