Ballot Measures

Raising taxes is almost always difficult politically. When it comes to tax-hiking ballot measures, the trick is to find a politically popular cause to fund. Sam Page, a candidate for lieutenant governor in Missouri, may have come up with the best possible tax ballot measure so far. He proposes a ballot mesaure to raise sales taxes by one-eighth of a cent to fund "veterans' homes, services and programs." Just try to be the poor soul organizing a no campaign against that. It's too late to qualify measures for November, so the legislature would have to put it on the ballot. Look for politicians in other states to copy this.

It looks more and more likely that California voters will have to bless whatever budget and revenue plans that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislature agree upon to deal with the state's rapidly escalating budget crisis. Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders are pursuing a privatization of the lottery in order to produce more revenues, but changes to the lottery, which was established by ballot initiative, would likely require voter approval.

Courtesy once again of Robert Greene of the LA Times.

Robert Greene, editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times and friend of the blog, has put together the following post with links to municipal election results in Los Angeles County cities from Arcadia to Whittier.