☆ Will leaders continue to tax people out of their inheritances, or will citizens regain control? Burns, Tse-Louie on 2026.
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Realtor Mark Burns worries Santa Clara County will keep hiking taxes instead of containing expenses, while realtor Gina Tse-Louie argues that voters’ rights have been systematically dismantled by the state government. She hopes an initiative to address the “death tax” will make it on the ballot this year. An Opportunity Now exclusive look ahead to 2026.
Mark Burns
I’m hoping to see the County figure out how to reduce their budget and expenses so they actually balance and then build reserves and rainy day funds.
My fear is they never will and we will continue to increase sales taxes, extend existing ‘temporary’ tax increases, and pass more local and regional bond measures forever.
No predictions. It’s going to be business as usual. Everything that happens in the rest of the country runs into some kind of an impenetrable force field here in town and bounces away. Terrible things happen all over the country and the world but we seem impervious.
Gina Tse-Louie
What I am hoping to see happen in 2026? One of my TOP items is the FiXProp19 to Save Our Children's Future (by Repeal The Death Tax, 3rd campaign) is on the ballot and wins. We need to stop people losing truly affordable housing thanks to the “homelessness machine.”
Even more so, I hope we win Reclaim Voters' Rights at the ballot and regain rights written away by the legislators and governor in 2011 through SB 202 rendering Californians powerless. We need to be able to counter bad legislation with citizens initiatives, referendums and vetoes. We gave our electeds the power and should have the right to take it back.
My fear is that Reclaim Voters' Rights cannot gather enough signatures and there remains no checks and balances for the people. Electeds have become brazen drafting unconstitutional legislation like 2020 Proposition 19 and SB 79. It is time we take back government for and by the people if our electeds are beholden to special interests.
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