The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA) November 2021 Court Action Update included a summary of the HJTA v County of Yuba case. The legal battle involved Measure K from the November 2018 ballot in Yuba County.
The measure asked voters to approve a 1% sales tax increase for “public safety / essential services.” “The ordinance listed exclusive special purposes, and followed all the Government Code requirements for a special tax and created no option for defaulting to general services,” says HJTA.
HJTA advised the county that the ordinance was a special tax requiring a two-thirds vote. HJTA says, “The county ignored our advice, and when Measure K received a 54% vote, the county declared it passed.”
HJTA, along with local residents Charles Mathews and John Mistler filed a complaint to invalidate the tax. The Yuba County Superior Court sided with HJTA, declaring Measure K invalid because according to Judge Berrier it was obviously a special tax disguised as a general tax, states HJTA.
Therefore, lacking a 2/3s vote it did not pass according to Berrier.
The county then appealed the Berrier ruling to the Third District Court of Appeal. This court of appeal reversed the local decision. HJTA writes, “The (Third District) decision invented a new, narrower test for finding a special tax than the one utilized in earlier cases, holding that revenue from the tax must be dedicated to a specific project or program to qualify as a special tax.”
This is the problem throughout California as liberal activist judges are actually making new law by their decisions. Proposition after proposition (Prop 13 – 1978 / Prop 58 – 1986 / Prop 193 – 1996 / Prop 218 – 1996) have been passed by voters to stop politicians and bureaucrats from stealing their money and their freedom. In general, many lawsuits that affect more than one state are being filed by attorneys elsewhere to avoid California judicial abuse.
The impact of Measure K on local residents and businesses is significant. More than $16,000 each day is taken from local citizens’ spendable income as people struggle to pay bills. This is particularly egregious since government crushed jobs by forcing businesses to close due to the Covid fraud.
Then Supervisors chose a handful of businesses to give money to rather than compensating all business that were forced to close. The constitution talks of compensating businesses when the government interferes or stops trade. The state and county ignored the constitution.
(Lou Binninger can be heard on No Hostages Radio podcast, live on KMYC 1410AM 10-1 Saturdays, read at Live with Lou on Facebook and at Nohostagesradio.com)
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