Finally, A Tax Initiative is Dropped

Finally! After months of debate, a California elected official has pulled back their ballot initiative to raise taxes because of conflicts with another measure.

Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with Gov. Jerry Brown or any of the three competing tax-hike initiatives, including his own, that as of right now are headed to the November ballot.

The chief executive who decided to pull back is Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider.

And the initiative she is pulling back was a measure that would have split sales tax revenue between the city of Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara Unified School District. If she had pursued the initiative, it might have created problems for a separate parcel tax measure backed by the school district for the June ballot. Her push for the measure had, for obvious reasons, alienated the schools.

And Schneider isn't some of coastal Democrat who disdains ballot meaures. According to the Noozhawk, She's pushing three other measures -- a sales tax, a business license fee for the entertainment district, and a pension reform measure. And in another novelty that we're not seeing at the state level, the pension reform and the sales tax are linked. Both have to pass or they don't take effect. The left would get tax revenues it wants and the right would get pension savings it wants.

A trade-off that balances the books in two different ways. What a concept. And one you won't see coming to the statewide ballot anytime soon.

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