Senator Loni Hancock has proposed an amendment to Proposition 13, SCA 15, that would allow an alternative method to raise state taxes. In a press release, the Senator calls the measure a "Double Majority" tax vote because it allows the legislature to put a tax on the ballot with a simple majority vote and then the people must pass the tax in a statewide election with a majority vote.
The press release states: "It does not make it easier to raise taxes by removing the two-thirds vote requirement. It simply creates a viable alternative to legislative gridlock."
A "viable" alternative means another way to raise taxes. If another route has been added to raise taxes, one that benefits the party in power and especially their allies who want tax increases, then the bill does make it easier to raise taxes.
The bill points out that the proposal is an alternative to the two-thirds vote rule to pass tax increases. Taking on directly the two-thirds vote to pass taxes is probably too big a hill to climb since the voters have affirmed the two-thirds vote for legislative tax increases four times in the last three decades.
So, this alternative plan is now on the table. What is the practical outcome if SCA 15 becomes law? My guess is the legislature does not take "No" for an answer. If the people turn down a tax in one election, expect to see it back in the next election.
Hancock calls her measure, "The Taxpayer Right to Vote Act." It probably should be named, "Send Tax Increases Back to the Voters Again and Again Until they Vote Yes."
But, here is the real way that it keeps the pressure on for tax increases — If it takes a simple majority vote to put a tax on the ballot, allies of the majority party from the public sector who would normally sponsor tax increase initiatives could just have their friends in the legislature qualify a measure for the ballot with a majority vote. The public unions save a cool million dollars or so by avoiding a signature gathering effort. Then they can use that money in a campaign to pass the taxes.
That’s a cool million savings for the pro-tax advocates each time a tax makes the ballot under the "Double Majority" plan.
Under such a scenario, you could see a whole smorgasbord of tax options. There might be a proposal to tax the rich; or an oil severance tax; or a tax on business. Likely, in successive elections Californians would find a narrow new tax measure on the ballot taxing only certain industries or segments of the population. If the voters turn down a tax, it can easily be put on the ballot again and again until voters see the light and vote "Yes."
I first heard of this "Double Majority" tax plan from Lenny Goldberg of the California Tax Reform Association at the Deliberative Poll in Torrance last month. Goldberg’s group is funded in part by public employee unions. The unions are looking for ways to raise taxes.
Having an alternative way to attempt a tax increase; finding an easier way to get tax measures before the voters without having to qualify an initiative, makes it easier to raise taxes-despite what the senator’s press release claims.