Taxpayer act best way to limit Newsom

Californians see the fruits of progressive policy making everywhere as Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Democratic Legislature continually raise taxes and spend record amounts of public money. They do so even as state-created crises (homelessness, housing, crime, insurance, infrastructure, etc.) make California less livable and send businesses elsewhere.

The resulting frustration has led to some foolish ideas. We haven't heard much about another recall attempt of Newsom since the secretary of state gave the go-ahead for signature gathering two weeks ago, but we've called it an unserious waste of time. The last attempt was an embarrassing bust that further empowered the governor and benefited no one except for consultants.

Yet there are serious ways to try to resist the Democratic leadership. Note that Newsom isn't the slightest bit concerned about Recall 2.0, but he is having conniptions about a serious business-backed initiative that has qualified for the November ballot. It could usher in a new California tax revolt — something we haven't seen since Proposition 13's passage in 1978.

Called the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act, it requires a two-thirds vote for local tax increase measures and would require voter approval of tax increases passed by the Legislature.

Local governments, addicted to the endless ratchet of higher taxes, fear a provision that would retroactively roll back some taxes to 2022 levels. Governments improperly classify some taxes as fees to make them easier to pass, so the act would classify them correctly as taxes.

For a sense of the fear and trepidation it's causing, consider that Newsom and the Legislature have filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court attempting keep the measure off the ballot. They claim it imposes such a broad change that it amounts to a constitutional revision rather than an amendment. That argument is hogwash.

The Legislature also passed Assembly Constitutional Amendments 1 and 13, which attempt to undermine the protection act. ACA 1 would lower the local voter threshold to approve taxes and ACA 13 would make it harder to increase the threshold. These measures seem partly designed to gum up the ballot and discourage voters from supporting the real taxpayer protection measure.

We trust that voters will see through it.

As the Wall Street Journal noted, Newsom and top lawmakers have run full-page ads in major newspapers targeting major companies that belong to the California Business Roundtable, which is driving the initiative campaign. The ads call the measure “dangerous,” but mainly seem like a desperate attempt by state leaders to bully large corporations rather than address the legitimate concerns that pushed them this far.

In 1978, Californians were being taxed out of their homes as local governments continually increased property taxes. The political establishment predicted dire consequences if voters approved Proposition 13.

The progressive groups, public-sector unions and coalition of special interests that are dependent on the government trough still blame the initiative for every problem under the sun even though their agencies have done quite well since then. The state's problems are the result of governments that do a poor job, misspend public money and then just raise taxes when they run out.

If you want to reduce the power of an out-of-control governor and Legislature, forget about pointless recalls and get on board the 2024 Tax Revolt.