Merc endorses prop 43, tax thresholds
Merc Editorial board says it’s time to restore supermajority minimum for special taxes.
General taxes require a simple majority voter approval for passage. Special taxes, under Proposition 13 in 1978 and Proposition 218 in 1996, required two-thirds — until 2017.
That’s when the state Supreme Court, in an unrelated case, distinguished between measures placed on the ballot through initiative signature-gathering drives and those created by local government agencies.
Building on that court-created distinction, subsequent state appellate court rulings created a two-track system for passage of special taxes: Initiative measures require simple majority approval while those created by government agencies require two-thirds approval.
This is not what voters intended in 1978 or 1996. The route to the ballot should not determine the vote threshold for passage. Proposition 43 would overturn the court rulings and restore the two-thirds requirement for passage of special taxes.
Since 2017, we’ve seen the perverse incentives the court rulings have created. Government agencies have started turning to interest groups to qualify special taxes for the ballot.
For example, Measure RTM, the regional transit sales tax measure voters are currently considering, could have been placed on the ballot by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. But the measure would have then needed two-thirds voter approval. Instead, transit labor unions and contractors helped fund an initiative signature drive and the subsequent campaign for the measure.
Proposition 43 would merely restore the intent of voters who passed the two prior measures.--SJ Merc editorial board
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