California’s state government squandered $18.9 billion over the past 10 years due to government waste, fraud and mismanagement, and this abuse of tax dollars will continue unless our elected officials get serious about their oversight of our tax dollars.

The $18.9 billion figure comes from a new California Taxpayers’ Association Research Bulletin, “A Decade of Waste, Fraud and Mismanagement,” which is based on the media’s investigative reporting, government audits, court documents and other sources of information.

Some examples:

I know this is Mardi gras season, but it’s time to stop this masquerade.

On March 4, the Legislature sent the governor a majority-vote bill (ABX8 6) to implement a gas tax swap, a tax increase in disguise.

The legislation repeals the sales tax on gas and replaces the revenue with an excise tax of 17.3 cents per gallon. It also increases the sales tax on diesel fuel by 1.75 percent and reduces the gas tax on diesel fuel by 4.4 cents per gallon. And, for purposes of Prop. 98 school funding, the state has to pretend that this sales tax on gas was not repealed. Finally, the bill gives legislative authority to the State Board of Equalization to make adjustments to the excise tax rate to ensure “revenue neutrality” in the future.

Proposition 13 has been under attack ever since Californians approved the historic property tax reform initiative, and this year is no exception.

The argument is more of the same, a rehash of the complaint that the property tax system is unfair – a claim that has been rejected repeatedly by the courts and the voters.

Those who are pushing to end Proposition 13’s taxpayer protections claim that California’s property tax system gives businesses a tax break at the expense of homeowners. They allege that Proposition 13 caused a shift in tax burden from businesses onto homeowners.

The California Taxpayers’ Association decided to put this claim to the test. We looked at the property tax data published annually by the State Board of Equalization, and compared property taxes on homeowners to the taxes on all business and non-homeowner property subject to Proposition 13 assessment.

Yesterday, the California Taxpayers’ Association filed suit to invalidate the 20 percent "understatement penalty” provisions included in SB X1 28 of last year.

Our lawsuit alleges that in addition to federal Due Process, Equal Protection and Commerce Clause defects, the "penalty" operates as a tax, and thus violates Proposition 13, because it didn’t receive at least a two-thirds vote.

This broad-based constitutional challenge, filed in Sacramento Superior Court as California Taxpayers’ Association v. Franchise Tax Board, also notes that the process by which the legislation was enacted was defective and unconstitutional.

Capitol observers will recall that the legislation was rushed through both houses of the Legislature on September 19, before the bill was even in print. The proposal was described by proponents as a doubling of an existing penalty on tax scofflaws, but when the language later was revealed, it was discovered that it actually proposes a new penalty – one that affects law-abiding taxpayers as well as tax cheats, with no distinction between the two.

The legislation is retroactive, and it applies strictly without exception (such as for good faith or reasonable cause). Even worse, it allows for no appeals!

In the past few years, more lawmaking seems to have been pushed behind closed doors, with less public debate and transparency. Our state’s budget process has been reduced to five people charged with the task of making California’s books balance, while 116 legislators remain in the dark until it’s time to vote. If the majority of lawmakers have no idea what is going on behind the closed doors of the "Big Five," surely the public knows even less.

Yet Americans, and Californians in particular, pride themselves on having a democratic system of government that is accountable, transparent and open to public participation. This pride is evident in California’s initiative process. Voters demanded their right to vote on taxes with Proposition 13 and Proposition 218, and they rejected lavish legislative spending and entrenched political power with Proposition 140. Even the Legislature supported accountability with the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, a measure that generally ensures that legislative business takes place in the open.