Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About the California Democracy Act

1. If a simple majority is democratic, isn't a 2/3 "supermajority" more democratic?
It's the opposite. Requiring a 2/3 vote on basic everyday economic issues means that 1/3 plus 1, that is, 34%, can rule the majority just by saying "no" until they get their way. This is anti-democratic, and no other state in the US has so little democracy in its legislature. It's this lack of democracy that has brought California to its knees.

2. Will this measure affect Prop 13 property tax assessments? Will it increase property taxes?
No. All individual and corporate property tax assessments under Prop 13 remain the same under this measure.

3. Does this measure mean my taxes will go up?
All it means is that, finally, a majority of voters will decide, through their representatives, whether their taxes will go down or up or stay the same. But there will be no gridlock, and no minority rule. Whatever their decision is, it will come via a functioning democracy.

4. Won't the majority of voters and their representatives decide to raise taxes?
Democracy only says that the majority should rule. Are you for or against democracy?

5. Won't this measure inevitably mean my taxes will go up because the state is broke?
California is the seventh richest economy in the world. The state has plenty of money. Where has that money been going? Under minority rule, the top 1 percent has accumulated more assets than the bottom 95%. The money has been flowing to the top ’Äî to a small number of individuals and corporations who have gathered extreme wealth.
On the whole, they have been freeloading ’Äî getting protection and empowerment from the state without paying in proportion to what they get: police, fire and disaster protection, disease protection, food safety, highways and other infrastructure, a power grid and a communications system, educated employees and educated citizens, scientific research, functioning banks, and a court system for corporate law. Many have gained wealth through loopholes and subsidies that the majority is paying for.
But the majority of voters are in the bottom 95% that is already paying their fair share and not freeloading. That majority is unlikely to want their taxes to go up. That means that, if you are in that 95% majority, your taxes most likely won’Äôt go up.
If any taxes go up, it will most likely be because freeloading at the top will be ended.

6. Won't this proposition give the legislature more power? Why should we do this when they have messed up the state so badly?
No.¬Ý This proposition takes power away from the power-grabbing minority and puts it back where it belongs, in the hands of the people who elect the majority of the legislature.

7. Why do the minority of the legislators act as if they want to destroy California? What motivates such a minority?
An extremist ideology. They ignore the fact that all business can only function with protection and empowerment by the government. They ignore the fact that their lifestyles are only possible by virtue of that protection and empowerment.
They believe that there is no public good and that there are only private goods. They want to privatize all that the state contributes to making our lives better. If they prevail, many of the best things about California may no longer be available to most Californians: education, parks and beaches, clean air, sufficient clean water, fish and seafood, safe food, police and fire protection, functioning banks, scientific research, and safe care for the elderly, for poor pregnant women, for battered wives and children, and for victims of HIV-AIDS.
The extremist legislative minority is supported in office primarily by ultra-rich individuals and corporations who want to accumulate even more wealth no matter who gets hurt. The name for that is Greed. It is one of the most deadly sins. Minority rule is not just undemocratic. Because it harms so many good, hard-working people, minority rule has become immoral in California.

8. The very idea of taxation bothers me because I don’Äôt think that anyone should pay for anyone else.
Well, a lot of other people have been paying for you! Remember that you can’Äôt make money or have a decent lifestyle without protection and empowerment by the state in hundreds of ways. You didn’Äôt build the roads, or the communications systems, or the power grid, or the banking system, or stock market, or the courts that enforce contracts, or the schools that educate employees, or the universities that developed the technologies you depend on for your work and your health, to name a few.

9. I think we should force cuts in as many taxes as possible. I think freedom and democracy means not being taxed.
In our current situation, what looks like a tax cut is all too often actually a tax shift. For example, allowing a tax loophole for wealthy corporations can result in a need to raise tuition of poor and middle class students in the state colleges in universities. That tuition raise is equivalent to a new tax on students and their parents. If those students and parents manage to get loans to pay for the increase, the interest on the loans will amount to an even higher new tax on students and parents.

10. Who is supporting this campaign?
The Executive Committee of the California Democratic Party (300 strong) voted unanimously to support the central idea. Many Democratic Clubs have signed on.
So far, our endorsers include:
The California Council Of Churches; The Consumer Federation of California; Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness; Robert Reich, U.S. Labor Secretary¬Ý (Ret.); John Garamendi, ex-CA Lt. Governor and now Congressman; Tom Hayden, CA State Senator¬Ý(Ret.); Alberto Torrico, CA State¬ÝAssembly Majority Leader; Hector De La Torre, CA State Assembly Member; Nancy Skinner, CA State Assembly Member; Mike Davis, CA State Assembly Member; Mary Hayashi, CA Assembly Member; Julia Brownley, CA Assembly Member
And we have barely begun seeking endorsers.