To Make Our Displeasure Known

Last year the EDD lost $20-$33 billion because of fraud.

On specific categories (income, property, sales, gas) California may not be the highest-taxed state, but there's no question that in the state rankings of the overall tax burden California is #1 or #2.

The pain would be lessened if the monies were employed somewhat effectively, but California continues to spend $billions on homelessness, high-speed trains to nowhere, and public education, with no signs of progress. And we've not even mentioned the $billions lost to fraud.

We've lamented the situation for years, but the voters keep re-electing the same people, and the one-party state rolls on, more dominant than ever in its taxing and spending and wastefulness.

However, once in a blue moon the political process still has the capacity to surprise (pleasantly).

Headline: These California taxes could be overturned by ballot measure before state Supreme Court [bold added]

The initiative, a proposed state constitutional amendment, would require any increase in state or local taxes or fees to be approved by the voters — and by two-thirds of the voters if the funds are for a specific purpose, like housing or zoo maintenance, rather than general government revenue.

Perhaps the most far-reaching feature of the measure is that it would apply retroactively to taxes and fees passed since the start of 2022. They would be rescinded unless voters gave approval by the required majority no later than a year after the initiative took effect.

Overall, state officials say the retroactivity standard would affect 15 bills signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that could affect statewide fees or taxes, and at least 131 such measures passed by local governments since the start of 2022.

This initiative received enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot, but, not unexpectedly, Governor Newsom and Democratic legislators have filed "emergency" lawsuits with the State Supreme Court to have it removed.

The initiative threatens to halt the endless cycle of tax and spend, and strikes at the heart of the one-party State. Your humble blogger doesn't give the initiative much of a chance of surmounting the obstacles in front of it, but at least those of us who are fed up with the way things are finally have a chance to make our displeasure known.