Skelton: Los Angeles tax battle shows need for reform

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Last month, a wide majority of Los Angeles County voters cast ballots for a measure aimed at extending a half-cent sales tax for transportation spending. But the measure failed because it fell just short of two-thirds support, the requirement to approve tax measures in the county.

In Thursday’s column, George Skelton says it’s indicative of the kind of gridlock that often paralyzes California government.

‘If a small minority can thwart the will of the vast majority on a routine local tax issue, it’s absurd,’ he writes.

Now that Democrats have supermajorities in both houses of the state Legislature, there’s talk of changing the voting thresholds for approving local taxes.

The battle would bring lawmakers into contact with Proposition 13, the constitutional amendment limiting local tax increases, which is widely considered a third rail in California politics.

All of Skelton’s columns are here.

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