CA legislative records: on Tax Reform

Kevin de Leon: California Excellence Fund: treat state taxes as donations

The plan, now introduced in the state Senate as Senate Bill 227, would create something called the California Excellence Fund within the state's General Fund, and if taxpayers chose to make donations to that special fund, they would receive a credit against their state income tax liability equal to the amount of their donation.

The state would end up with the same amount of revenue, but the taxpayer would be better off because donations to the California Excellence Fund would be considered charitable contributions, deductible on federal tax returns. This would get around the new $10,000 limit on the deduction for state taxes.

Tom Steyer: Oppose legislative supermajority for raising fees & levies

Report on Steyer's stance and spending on ballot initiatives:
• California Proposition 26, Supermajority Vote to Pass New Taxes and Fees (2010)
• Steyer Opposed; Steyer spent $1 million; outcome: Approved
• California Proposition 26, or the Supermajority Vote to Pass New Taxes and Fees Act, was on the November 2, 2010 ballot in California as an initiated constitutional amendment, where it was approved.
• Proposition 26 requires a two-thirds supermajority vote in the California State Legislature to pass any fees, levies, charges and tax revenue allocations that under the state's previous rules could be enacted by a simple majority vote.
• Supporters of Proposition 26 called it the Stop Hidden Taxes initiative, saying that fees, levies, and so on imposed by the California government amount to taxes, and should therefore require the same supermajority vote required to enact income or sales tax increases.

Tom Steyer: Tax surcharge on personal incomes over $250,000

Report on Steyer's stance and spending on ballot initiatives:
• California Proposition 55, Extension of the Proposition 30 Income Tax Increase (2016)
• Steyer Supported; Steyer spent $1.75 million; outcome: Approved
• Proposition 55 was on the November 8, 2016, ballot in California as an initiated constitutional amendment. It was approved.
• A "yes" vote supported extending the personal income tax increases on incomes over $250,000 approved in 2012 for 12 years in order to fund education and healthcare.
• A "no" vote opposed extending the personal income tax increases on incomes over $250,000 approved in 2012 for 12 years, allowing the tax increase to expire in 2019.
• The measure was designed to allocate about 89 percent of revenue from the tax increase to K-12 schools and 11 percent to state community colleges. It was also designed to allocate an additional $2 billion in certain years to Medi-Cal and other health programs.