As incredible as it sounds, there are many in California government who believe Californians aren’t taxed enough and that it is critical for state government to make it easier for taxes to be raised.
Reviving an old proposal, Assemblymember Catherine Stefani of San Francisco has proposed Assembly Bill 699.
Stefani describes the bill as “smart, good government policy that enhances transparency while ensuring local jurisdictions can continue to work in partnership with their local communities in support of vital infrastructure.”
For Stefani, what it means for “local jurisdictions,” meaning government, to work with their “local communities,” meaning taxpayers, to “work in partnership” is when taxpayers agree to fork over more of their money to local governments.
Stefani calls it a “serious problem” that, under current law, local ballot measures imposing or raising taxes must include the amount of money raised, the duration of the tax and the tax rate.
This is a problem, apparently, because, “Requiring that financial measures be explained to a voter in a 75-word ballot label can be too restrictive and can lead to confusion and at times can be misleading to voters.” Stefani complains this “has led to lower passage rates and jurisdictions deciding not to go to the ballot at all.”
Allow us a moment to grieve all the local governments that find it hard to punish their residents and businesses with higher taxes.
Stefani’s remedy to this challenge is to remove the requirement that local measures include such pesky details as how much local government wants to take from them in the ballot statement.
Instead, such information could be replaced by, “See county voter guide for detailed tax rate information.”
Here in the real world, few people are actually going to do that, which Stefani knows and which tax-hikers are banking on to improve their chances of getting their measures through.
An analysis of the bill from the Senate Committee on Local Governments itself notes this: “Voters who do not have the time to review the information could end up not fully aware of how the measure may affect them. Does AB 699 tip the scales too far in the favor of local governments and initiative proponents seeking to pass new taxes and bonds?”
Even so, the Senate committee actually ended up approving the bill on July 2, with Sens. Arreguín, Cabaldon, Durazo, Laird and Wiener advancing it. Southern California Sens. Steven Choi and Kelly Seyarto wisely voted against it. Keep watch on who votes for the bill if it makes it to the floor and hold it against any of the supposed “moderate” Democrats who vote for it. The bill already cleared the Assembly on a 54-20 vote. Some sensible moderate Democrats like Asm. Cottie Petrie-Norris and Jasmeet Bains voted against it. But unfortunately most Democratic politicians think Californians really need to be taxed more.
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