From the linked article:
On June 20, the California Supreme Court ruled that the Taxpayer Protection Act, a ballot initiative that would have given voters veto power over new taxes, was a violation of the state constitution. [It was not.]
Everything about this situation evokes a frustration that defies description. When assessing the “totality” of taxes and fees – sales tax, utility tax, excise tax, carbon emissions fees, payroll tax, income tax, property tax, permit fees, registration fees, payments on state bonds, municipal bonds, school bonds, the gasoline tax… the list of various fees on businesses is endless – Californians pay more to support their government than anywhere else in America. It is oppressive and it is driving people and businesses to flee to other states while it smothers the households and businesses that remain.
There is no doubt who these judges favored—and feared—the most. Here are the special interests that lined up to keep this initiative off the ballot: Governor Gavin Newsom. The California Democratic Party. Public sector unions, including AFSCME, SEIU, and the California Professional Firefighters. Public agency associations, including the California Contract Cities Association, the California Special Districts Association, the California State Association of Counties, and the League of California Cities.
Notice what all these groups have in common. They are all supported by taxpayers, and the Democratic party, which they control, is their collection agency. The Taxpayer Protection Act would have taken away the most egregious prerogatives of this collection agency, which, for the last several years, has been out of control. It’s not hard to see why. The state legislature is currently empowered to raise taxes if they can get two-thirds of the state senate and two-thirds of the state assembly to vote in favor of the increase. That’s easy. Democrats control 78 percent of the seats in the assembly and 80 percent of the seats in the senate. They can raise taxes anytime they want, and they do, over and over.
It’s also not hard to identify the special interest that is at the heart of everything that has gone wrong in California. Public employee unions. If you want to know why California’s state general fund spending has increased from $96 billion in 2013 to $226 billion in 2023, it’s the unions.
The Democrats in the state legislature have received most of their campaign funds from public sector unions. Typically, the top ten largest contributions by amount come from government unions, and it is even common to see every one of a politician’s top twenty contributions coming from these unions.
Normal working families in California endure obscene levels of taxation, crippling over-regulation of everything, failing public services, crime and disorder, and a punitive cost of living. In return, they are obligated to support a government that operates according to a simple, diabolical formula: the worse things get for them, the better things get for us.