Voters: Time to stop getting abused on tax hikes

It’s time for taxpayers to stop getting taken by surprise, and stop getting taken for granted by California politicians.People are surprised that their sales tax rose in LA County last week, to 10.25%.People are surprised that Metrolink fares are rising this week, by as much as 27%.The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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Never miss a story People were surprised when the “mansion tax” passed, and new apartment construction suddenly slowed down.People are going to be surprised when Gavin Newsom’s new tax on health insurance premiums kicks in — about $100 per person, per year. There are two questions here: Why do these taxes keep passing? And why are voters, and consumers, taken by surprise almost every time?The first answer is that California’s politicians have an endless appetite for other peoples’ money.And they are determined to get it.They know the rules of the game.They are organized.

They are well-funded — often by the same donors who stand to benefit from the new taxes and new spending.And — let’s face it — California is a one-party state.Not one Republican has been elected statewide since Arnold Schwarzenegger.

That was 20 years ago.Democrats take the voters for granted.Those who might object to tax increases — the general public — are less organized.

Taxpayers are also overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of battles they have to fight.The political class has unlimited resources.Ordinary people do not.That said — it’s not impossible to fight new taxes.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association fights to defend the cap on property tax increases that voters enacted with Proposition 13 in 1978. But that’s just one tax.The politicians are raising taxes on everything.And the reason voters are caught by surprise because they just don’t know that they�...