TITLE
Recommendation to respectfully request City Council to approve an Oppose position to the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act, as recommended by the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.
DISCUSSION
On August 1, 2023, the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee received a presentation on the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act and moved to recommend
an Oppose position to City Council for consideration. This measure is an initiative constitutional amendment sponsored by the California Business Roundtable on the November 2024 ballot, which would limit the ability of voters and state and local governments to raise revenues for government services. It would have significant impacts
on the City’s ability to raise fees and taxes and could put the City at risk of heightened litigation.
If enacted, any new or increased tax or fee adopted by the Legislature, City, or local voters after January 1, 2022, must comply with the measure’s rules. The proposal would impact taxes and fees in the following ways:
? The proposal would invalidate the Upland court decision that allows a majority of local voters to pass special taxes, and instead specifies that taxes proposed by initiative are subject to the same rules as taxes placed on the ballot by a city council.
? The measure amends the State Constitution to expand the definition of taxes to include some charges that state and local governments currently treat as fees and other charges, which could increase the revenue proposals subject to the higher state and local vote requirements for taxes.
? The measure requires state and local tax measures to identify the type and amount (or rate) of the tax and the duration of the tax. General tax measures must state that the revenue can be used for general purposes. It expressly prohibits local advisory measures which allow local voters to express a preference for how local general tax dollars should be spent.
The measure would have significant negat...
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