Stop the Tax Hikes

California’s working families are already struggling with a high cost of living and state and local politicians are making it worse by constantly trying to raise taxes and spike our utility rates.

California politicians are specifically trying to repeal Prop 13 with two separate initiatives on the ballot in 2024 — along with a blizzard of other tax hike proposals.

That’s why Carl DeMaio and Reform California are helping to lead the campaign to block any more tax hikes and pass a powerful state constitutional amendment: The California Taxpayer Protection Initiative.

“Californians are already forced to pay the highest taxes in the nation and we literally have seen millions of working families flee the high cost of our state – enough is enough,” says Carl DeMaio, Chairman of Reform California.

After collecting more than 1.4 million signatures, voters succeeded in qualifying this landmark ballot measure for a vote in the November 2024 election. The California Taxpayer Protection Initiative is supported by a broad coalition chaired by the CA Business Properties Association, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association, and the CA Business Roundtable. Unfortunately, state and local politicians raised  millions in special interest funding to defeat this crucial ballot measure – and Gavin Newsom and state Democrats SUED to block the measure from the 2024 ballot, claiming that "voters don't have capacity" to decide on tax hikes, because they know if the measure passes it will make harder for them to raise your taxes!

In a stunning move, the liberal justices on the California Supreme Court sided with Gavin Newsom and Democrats and unanimously voted to block the measure from the ballot. This effectively stripped citizens of the initiative rights that they have had for over 112 years!

But there is hope! Carl DeMaio and Reform California and a coalition of tax-fighters are committed to refiling the initiative in 2026 with tweaks to cut through the arguments the court used to block the measure in 2024.

What California Politicians are Trying to Do:

• California politicians are trying to confuse voters by placing two initiatives on the ballot in 2024 that would both gut prop 13 and make it easier to raise state and local taxes, as well as increase your utility rates;
• ACA-1 would gut Prop 13's 2/3 vote requirement for new taxes by lowering it to 55%;
• ACA-13 would gut Prop 13 by blocking the California Taxpayer Protection Initiative and eliminating the requirement that voters be allowed to vote on tax increases with honest ballot titles;
• We MUST defeat both of these initiatives to save Prop 13 in 2024!

What the California Taxpayer Protection Initiative Does:

• Requires a public vote on ALL state tax hikes – no exceptions like what happened with the recent gas and car tax hikes.
• Requires that tax hikes achieve a two-thirds voter approval to pass – not a simple majority.
• Repeals dozens of costly tax hikes that were imposed any time after January 2022.
• Ends the ability of politicians to put deceptive titles on the ballot that fail to disclose a measure contains a hidden tax hike.
• Tightens the definition of a “tax” to eliminate the ability of politicians to call something a mere “fee” to avoid voter approval.
• Prohibits state politicians from raising your electric and gas utility rates through illegal taxes and fees.

Tax Hikes We Are Fighting:

California already has the highest income tax, the highest sales tax, the highest gas tax, and some of the highest property taxes in the country. California politicians have a spending addiction – and no tax increase will ever be big enough to satisfy their habit! Here are just some of the tax hikes they are trying to impose:

• A Wealth Tax – California would be the first state to impose a draconian tax on your assets, not just your income!
• A Mileage Tax – Gas and car taxes are automatically increased every year and now politicians want a tax charge foreach mile you drive!
• A Tax on Moving Out of State – California would also be the first state to impose a tax on people who flee the state.
• Property Tax / Repeal of Prop 13 – Partial or total repeal of Prop 13 from 1978 which protects homeowners against massive property tax hikes.
• Income Tax – New and higher tax brackets for all income levels – it’s not just the so-called “rich” that will get hurt.
• Sales Tax – Every election nearly 200 measures are placed on the ballot to increase state and local sales tax rates.
• Utility Rate Hikes — We have uncovered over $4.5 billion in hidden state taxes and fees that are spiking your rates, and passing this initiative will help us repeal those charges that are making your electricity and gas more expensive than it should be.

We need YOUR HELP immediately in this fight. Contribute, sign up to volunteer, and share the online petition below with your friends!

Read the full legal text of the 2024 version of the initiative here