03/28/2024

Election boosts advocates of higher taxes

This month’s election was good news for those who believe Californians’ taxes, while already among the nation’s highest, should be increased.

Voters elected Gavin Newsom, who has an expansive and expensive agenda, as governor, and also solidified Democrats’ supermajorities in the Legislature, giving them, at least on paper, unfettered power to raise taxes for that agenda.

Voters’ willingness to raise taxes was most starkly demonstrated, however, at the local level, where the vast majority of nearly 400 city, county and school district tax measures (including bonds that require new property taxes to repay) were endorsed by voters, according to a tally by Californiacityfinance.com.

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