Taxpayers, Lawmakers and Small Businesses File Suit To Block Illegal State Tax Increases

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA), more than 40 state legislators opposed to higher taxes, and John Eastman, dean of Chapman University, have filed suit to block the implementation of new taxes approved by the Legislature without the constitutionally required two-thirds vote.

Proposition 13 — now Article 13A of the California Constitution — mandates that the imposition of new or increased state taxes receive a two-thirds vote from the members of each house of the Legislature. (The two-thirds vote to approve a state budget is a separate matter dating back to the 1930s.) This provision was placed in Proposition 13 by authors Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann to make sure that, as they were saving people's homes by limiting annual property tax increases, state government was limited in its ability to increase other taxes that would deny taxpayers the savings they would achieve with the passage of the landmark initiative.

"This dishonest effort to raise taxes without a two-thirds vote is a dagger at the heart of Proposition 13 and every California taxpayer," stated HJTA President Jon Coupal at a morning news conference on the steps of the Court of Appeal. "If taxpayers lose the protection of the two-thirds vote, there will be no limitation to the ability of the tax-and-spend lobby in Sacramento to take whatever they want from hard-working Californians."

On December 18, the Senate and Assembly approved bills increasing the state sales tax, income tax, car tax and gasoline tax, all without a two-thirds vote, and are preparing to send them on to the governor for his approval.

Also joining the suit are the Americans for Prosperity, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, Flash Report Editor Jon Fleischman and KFI radio talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou.

Click here to view the filing.