The city of San Diego and the county recently dodged a potential tax hike initiative that would have required two-thirds voter support for special-purpose tax increases. The initiative, which was qualified for the ballot by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, would have also retroactively thrown out any tax increases that didn’t receive two-thirds voter support.

Background

For decades, it has been law in California that government-proposed tax increases for special purposes require two-thirds voter approval. However, in 2017, the California Supreme Court ruled that citizens’ initiatives are exempt from this requirement, creating a new path for groups to increase local taxes without needing to persuade two-thirds of voters.

A recent deal was made to pull the initiative after Los Angeles leaders agreed to make changes to the mansion tax, which would exclude the sale of big apartment buildings. Despite this, Howard Jarvis leaders still wanted to move forward with the initiative, but without the retroactive language.

This decision spares the city of San Diego from having to stop collecting its hotel room tax from Measure C in 2020 and also spares the new countywide sales tax initiative going on the November ballot.

Original reporting: Voice of San Diego — read the source article.