California voters are unhappy with measures calling for tax increases

from Dan WaltersCalMatters

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California is a blue state, and one of the manifestations of its political orientation is tolerance of one of the highest levels of taxation in the nation.

State tax rates on retail sales and personal and corporate income are among the highest of any state. Although property tax rates are relatively moderate, high property values ​​still result in high bills for their owners.

Specific taxes, such as those on fuel, utilities, cigarettes, alcohol, medical care, gambling, guns and ammunition, contribute even more. Collectively, state and local governments and school districts collect about $400 billion in taxes each year, more than $10,000 per Californian. according to the Tax Foundation. This is the fifth highest per capita burden in the entire country.

The state budget, which is now being forged behind closed doors, contains a set of relatively minor taxes, such as new about managed health servicesand another for the software.

Meanwhile, dozens of local governments are seeking voter approval for new sales and shipping taxes. The The November newsletter may contain several tax-related measures, some of which will increase levies and some of which will limit tax increases.

Together, they are testing California voters’ appetite for raising the state’s tax burden, and there is some evidence that their tolerance is waning.

In May, the Public Policy Institute of California requested a sample of the state’s voters how they would deal with the state’s chronic budget deficits and were told that 55 percent of them “want to pay lower taxes and have a state government that provides fewer services,” as researcher Dean Bonner put it. Even among Democrats, solving government deficits primarily through taxes attracted only 10% support.

A few weeks after the poll, California had a primary election that included 92 local measures that would either directly raise taxes or approve bond issues that would automatically raise local property taxes to pay for them. Only 57.5% of them are approved The California Taxpayers Association calculateda sharp drop from the 70% increase level in other recent elections.

Interestingly—and perhaps importantly—voters’ darker attitudes toward taxes were evident even in notoriously progressive San Francisco. That’s it voters rejected Proposition Dwhich would increase the city tax on large corporations whose executives are paid 100 times or more than rank-and-file employees, and Proposition C, which would increase the city tax on business gross receipts.

Tax hikes in two other Democratic regions also spread the dust: a new tax on vacant residential properties in San Diego and a sales tax increase in Contra Costa County. Los Angeles County voters passed a health care sales tax increase, but only by a narrow margin.

So what’s behind what appears to be a shift among California’s overwhelmingly Democratic voters? This is likely a reaction to the state’s ever-increasing cost of living.

The same revealing PPIC study on taxes too found that Californians are worried about inflation.

“More than four-in-ten Californians (44%) identify the cost of living and the economy as the most important issue facing the state; the second most frequently chosen issue is housing cost and availability (14%),” the pollsters found. “Economic anxiety has continued to rise in recent years; today three in four Californians expect tough economic times ahead for the state. About seven in ten or more across parties, regions and demographics are pessimistic.”

Pessimistic voters tend to reject measures that would increase their cost of living. We’ll find out a lot that they don’t like about taxes in November.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.