San Diego Taxpayers Association Endorses 5 Propositions, Opposes 4, Including Wealth Tax

SAN DIEGO, CA — The San Diego County Taxpayers Association has announced support for five of nine statewide propositions -- including one focused on middle-class home ownership -- on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The group announced that it is supporting:

-- Proposition 37, the Middle-Class Homeownership and Family Home Construction Act;

-- Proposition 41, Improving Transparency, Effectiveness and Efficiency in California Government Act;

-- Proposition 42, the Retirement & Personal Savings Protection Act;

-- Proposition 43, which calls for a two-thirds vote requirement for local special tax initiatives and property tax initiative prohibition amendment; and

-- Proposition 45, Building an Affordable California Act, which calls for reforming the state Environmental Quality Act.

The Taxpayers Association opposes:

-- Proposition 1, the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act;

-- Proposition 2, Save for California's Future Act (Rainy Day Fund);

-- Proposition 3, California Children's Education and Health Care Protection Act; and

-- Proposition 40, the One-Time Wealth Tax, also known as the "billionaire tax."

According to the association, in contrast to local measures -- that are judged on a single agency's spending plan and track record -- "each proposition was evaluated on how it would change the structure of California's tax system and the obligations it leaves behind."

The association "looked past what each measure promises to fund and asked who repays the debt, whether the revenue matches the obligation, and whether taxpayers keep the protections they already have," said Mark Kersey, president and CEO. `

"Voters are being asked to make permanent changes to the state constitution, and those are far harder to undo than to pass," Kersey added.

According to the group, Propositions 1 and 37 both address housing, with Proposition 1 adding "roughly $580 million a year in general fund debt service for about 30 years -- some $17.4 billion in principal and interest, paid regardless of how the funded programs perform."

In contrast, Proposition 37 "pursues an overlapping goal through $25 billion in revenue bonds repaid by the borrowers themselves, at no direct cost to government according to the Legislative Analyst's Office," the association said.

Proposition 3 "would strike the 2030 expiration date from an income tax surcharge voters were twice told was temporary, deepening the state's reliance on a small group of top-bracket filers who already supply roughly half of all personal income tax revenue," the group said, adding Proposition 40 "raises the mirror-image problem."

Proposition 40 is a one-time tax "on the net worth of roughly 200 people to Medi-Cal, an ongoing entitlement whose costs do not stop when the revenue does," the San Diego group added.

The association described Proposition 2 as "the closest call of the nine."

While having a larger reserve is sound policy, the group argued the measure "would permanently exclude reserve deposits from the state's voter- approved spending limit, and precisely in the high-revenue years when that limit would otherwise return money to taxpayers."

The association said the other measures it supports because "each answer a specific taxpayer problem," if passed, including:

-- Proposition 41, which would require an independent audit of a program before voters are asked to tax themselves for it, and continuing review afterward;

-- Proposition 42 would ban new state taxes on retirement accounts, savings, and other personal property, offering some certainty to residents planning for retirement;

-- Proposition 43, which calls for closing a gap that allows for citizen-initiated local special taxes to pass by simple majority since 2017, (in contrast to an identical city -- or county-placed tax measure needing two- thirds of voter approval); and

-- Proposition 45, which puts enforceable deadlines on environmental review, 365 days for a full impact report, and allows for corrections to the document without putting the entire approval aside.

California "already has one of the most volatile revenue bases in the country, and it is carrying a structural deficit into this election," said Mike McLaughlin, chairman of the Taxpayers Association's Board of Directors.

"Measures that deepen that volatility deserve a hard look, no matter how urgent the need behind them," McLaughlin added. "The ones we support either pay for themselves or give taxpayers something they don't have Tuesday."

The Taxpayers Association has reports on the state propositions, on its website, SDtaxpayers.org, along with positions on 15 local measures.

— City News Service