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Image Credit:
Canva/ Gage Skidmore
UPDATED September 12, 2023
California Democrats are voting on two bills (ACA-1 and ACA-13) that would essentially gut Prop 13 from 1978 and make it easier for state and local politicians to raise your taxes. Last week, ACA-1 and ACA-13 both passed in the State Assembly, and now they head to the State Senate.
Reform California Chairman Carl DeMaio says ACA-13 is a “dirty trick bill” specifically designed to thwart the California Taxpayer Protection Initiative which is a citizens’ ballot initiative that has qualified for a vote in the 2024 general election that would defend Prop 13 from 1978 and make it harder for state and local politicians to raise taxes.
ACA-13 would specifically make it so the CA Taxpayer Protection Initiative would need 2/3rds vote to pass – not the usual majority vote that the state constitution currently requires.
ACA-1 would gut Prop 13 by lowering certain tax votes from 2/3 to 55%.
“California’s tax-raising politicians are literally freaking out that our California Taxpayer Protection Initiative will pass in 2024, so they are resorting to dirty tricks to increase the number of votes we need to pass it,” DeMaio explains.
In 2020, California’s liberal judges – at the urging of state and local Democrats – gutted the 2/3rds vote requirement for tax hikes that the Prop 13 anti-tax movement imposed in California.
The CA Taxpayer Protection Initiative would not only restore the 2/3rds vote requirement on tax hikes, but would also reverse billions in tax hikes previously imposed and require honest ballot titles on all tax hike measures going forward. The measure also puts an end to “fees” being imposed when they are really taxes – especially on California’s skyrocketing utility bills.
“If CA Democrats pass this law changing the vote threshold, there’s no doubt about it: every single Californian will end up paying higher taxes,” DeMaio warns.
DeMaio points to 7 tax hikes that Californians will likely have to pay if ACA-1 or ACA-13 pass and the California Taxpayer Protection Initiative is blocked in 2024:
But DeMaio says there is still hope that ACA-1 ACA-13 can be blocked in the State Senate and clear the way for the California Taxpayer Protection Initiative to stop these 7 huge tax hikes. The State Senate has until Thursday, September 14th to vote on ACA-1 and ACA-13 — and DeMaio says the bills can be defeated if just six senators break with Democrat party lines and vote "no" or "present."
The following senators, listed with their office contact number, are the most likely to flip their vote to oppose ACA-1 and ACA-13 according to DeMaio:
If the bills head back to the Assembly for a second, or concurrence, vote, the following Assemblymen, listed with their office contact number, are the most likely to flip their vote and oppose ACA-1 and ACA-13 according to DeMaio:
“We need every voter in California to take action immediately to help us defeat this bill,” DeMaio urges. "Putting a spotlight on this dirty bill and amping up the political pressure on these legislators can stop ACA-1 and ACA-13 in their tracks."
“California Democrats will never end their constant tax-hiking ways on their own, so we need to unite now and make sure we can pass the California Taxpayer Protection Initiative – which means we need immediate support from everyone across the state to power our campaign to get the word out about these efforts and win no matter what the threshold is in 2024,” DeMaio urges.
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