{"id":498094,"date":"2026-10-16T13:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T13:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/498094\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T13:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T13:30:07","slug":"opinion-why-besieged-san-diego-taxpayers-really-need-prop-43-to-pass-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/498094\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Why besieged San Diego taxpayers really need Prop. 43 to pass \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Proposition 43\u00a0would make it harder to raise local taxes, such as sales taxes, by restoring an important taxpayer protection that voters overwhelmingly approved in 1978 with the passage of Proposition 13. In a series of court decisions beginning nine years ago, Proposition 13\u2019s requirement for a two-thirds vote for local special taxes was effectively eradicated.<\/p>\n

A \u201cspecial tax\u201d is one that earmarks the revenue for specific purposes. The state Constitution says special taxes only pass with the approval of two-thirds of voters.<\/p>\n

If courts had simply enforced the plain language, Californians would not currently be paying billions of dollars in local taxes that failed to achieve the two-thirds vote requirement. But because of a bizarre Supreme Court ruling in the 2017 case of California Cannabis Coalition v. City of Upland, as well as subsequent cases from the lower appellate courts, special taxes imposed by \u201ccitizens\u2019 initiatives\u201d sponsored by special interests are exempt from the two-thirds requirement.<\/p>\n

According to the California Taxpayers Association, there have been dozens of Upland taxes imposed on taxpayers totaling $2.9 billion. And while all California communities would benefit from a reversal of the Upland loophole, there is one city for which it would be especially helpful.<\/p>\n

In March, I wrote about<\/a> the extent to which the political leadership in the city of San Diego demonstrates disdain for its taxpayers. First, there was the embarrassment of the effort to impose a first time ever residential trash fee for services that, historically, were covered by the city\u2019s general fund. The plan created a lot of hostility among the city\u2019s homeowners both because of the amount of the fee as well as the deceptive tactics employed by city leaders. It wasn\u2019t until former Mayor Kevin Faulconer began a signature collection effort to effectively repeal the levy that the city agreed to a settlement to reduce the fee.<\/p>\n

The second example of San Diego\u2019s disconnect with taxpayers was the City Council\u2019s backing of a controversial \u201cvacant house\u201d tax which was placed on the June ballot. Not only was the tax unlikely to achieve its stated objective of increasing housing availability, but a similar tax in San Francisco was thrown out by the courts. In any event, the tax was rejected by voters.<\/p>\n

Politicians\u2019 disregard for taxpayers is not limited to the San Diego City Council but has infected county leaders and local legislators as well. Two ultra-progressive state representatives, San Diego Assemblymembers David Alvarez and Chris Ward, co-authored Assembly Bill 2484, which authorizes San Diego County to exceed the state law cap on local sales taxes, which is 2%. It marks the first time the state Legislature has granted a San Diego County government agency such an exemption.<\/p>\n

The backers of AB 2484 readily admit that the legislation is needed for a future tax for San Diego\u2019s Metropolitan Transit System (MTS). But another provision of AB 2484 seeks to avoid the two-thirds vote requirement under Proposition 13 by exploiting the infamous \u201cUpland\u201d loophole, which would allow the tax to be imposed with a simple majority vote. (That loophole will be extinguished if voters approve Proposition 43 in the current election. If that happens, an MTS tax in 2028 would need a two-thirds vote to pass.)<\/p>\n

County voters should be forewarned that if the cap is breached in San Diego, the future could look like Los Angeles where no city is below 10%. A series of exemptions has allowed the rate in the Los Angeles County desert cities\u00a0of Palmdale and Lancaster to rise to 11.75%, the highest in the nation and 3 percentage points above San Diego County\u2019s highest rate of 8.75%.<\/p>\n

As I have written about on numerous occasions, California\u2019s state sales tax rate of 7.25% is the highest in the nation. When the local sales tax rates are included, the average sales tax rate, according to a recent study by the Tax Foundation, is 8.99%. With all the talk in California about \u201csticking it\u201d to the wealthy, the reality is that sales taxes are among the most regressive because low- and middle-income taxpayers spend a higher proportion of their income on taxable goods.<\/p>\n

Proposition 43 won\u2019t prevent all new local special taxes. It just means that tax-hungry politicians, like those in San Diego, will have to follow the rules approved by voters when they enacted Proposition 13 in 1978.<\/p>\n

Coupal is the president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Proposition 43\u00a0would make it harder to raise local taxes, such as sales taxes, by restoring an important taxpayer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[964,975,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-498094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-commentary","tag-opinion","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}