California voters have 14 statewide ballot measures staring at them this November.
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voters → have → them
Here’s all you need to know.
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you → ’ → ?
Proposition 1 borrows $11.25 billion for an assortment of affordable-housing programs.
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Proposition → borrow → programs
That means billions in new state debt, with taxpayers ultimately paying the principal and interest.
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taxpayers → mean → principal
Prop. 37 goes another direction: Up to $25 billion in revenue bonds to provide qualifying middle-income buyers (read: probably not you!) with loans covering as much as 17% of a new home’s price.
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. → go → price
The program is structured around borrower repayment.
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program → structure → repayment
They’re different programs, but they suffer from the same basic problem: California doesn’t suffer from a shortage of government housing programs.
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California → ’re → programs
It suffers from a housing shortage.
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It → suffer → shortage
We make homes extraordinarily difficult and expensive to build, watch prices soar, and then devise government programs to help selected people afford the prices government helped drive up.
That’s treating the symptom while protecting the disease.
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That → make → disease
It punches a hole in the Gann limit — the per-capita limit on spending — so Sacramento can hoard surplus taxes, not refund them.
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Sacramento → punch → them
Remember the “temporary” tax increase California voters approved in 2012?
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voters → remember → 2012
It raised income-tax rates on higher earners to deal with what was described as a fiscal emergency.
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what → raise → emergency
Fourteen years later, the emergency apparently never ended.
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emergency → end → ?
The tax was extended once.
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tax → extend → ?
Proposition 3 would now make those higher rates permanent.
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rates → make → ?
And this isn’t some orphan measure that wandered onto the ballot.
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that → wander → ballot
The California Teachers Association is a primary driver of the measure, with an interest in making permanent a revenue stream that sends billions into public education.
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that → make → education
Milton Friedman famously observed that nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.
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nothing → observe → program
California has decided to put the theory directly on the ballot.
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California → decide → ballot
Opens the door to politicians spending taxpayer dollars on political campaigns.
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politicians → open → campaigns
Asks taxpayers to borrow another $8.4 billion for medical research — after voters already authorized billions for stem-cell research.
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voters → ask → research
Oh yeah, the billionaire who put this on the ballot will likely see that half of the money goes to his favorite non-profit.
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half → put → profit
The measure would require government-issued identification and citizenship verification for voting.
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measure → require → voting
In-person voters would present government-issued ID, while mail voters would provide the last four digits of their designated government-ID number on the ballot envelope.
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voters → present → envelope
We require identification for consequential activities in modern life.
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We → require → life
Requiring voters to demonstrate that they are who they say they are isn’t radical.
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they → require → voters
Proposition 40 is he so-called billionaire tax.
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Proposition → call → ?
Prop. 40 would impose a one-time 5% tax on covered wealth above $1 billion, with 90% of the revenue going to health care.
But here’s the part that deserves more attention than the “billionaire tax” label.
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that → impose → label
The measure allows the ;egislature, with a two-thirds vote, to amend its provisions later.
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egislature → allow → provisions
My concern is obvious: that opens the door to lawmakers placing a wealth tax on any class of people they want — and it does not have to come back to a vote of the people.
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it → open → people
It’s an everyone tax.
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It → ’ → ?
Props. 41 and 42 were placed on the ballot as countermeasures to Prop. 40.
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. → place → .
If either receives more yes votes than Prop. 40, courts could find that the measures conflict, and prevent Prop. 40 from taking effect.
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measures → receive → effect
This is the “Save Prop. 13” measure, aimed to keep property tax caps in place.
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This → save → place
California courts have allowed certain local special taxes placed on the ballot through citizen initiatives to pass with a simple majority rather than the two-thirds vote required when government itself proposes the tax.
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government → allow → tax
Prop. 43 would impose the two-thirds requirement regardless of who puts the tax on the ballot.
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who → impose → ballot
Well-funded organizations can hire professional signature gatherers and put them on the ballot, threatening Prop. 13.
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organizations → fund → .
Prop. 43 closes that loophole.
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Prop → close → loophole
Dictates how nonprofit community health clinics can spend their money — the latest chapter in a long-running union fight with SEIU-UHW, the same health care workers union pushing Prop. 40.
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clinics → dictate → .
This will actually help get more housing built.
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housing → help → ?
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
