(Alexandria, VA) – Just in time for this week’s early voting for California’s June 5th primary, the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) has launched its 2012 California Ballot Guide: The Taxpayer’s Perspective. This summer, Golden State taxpayers will decide the fate of billions of dollars when they step into the voting booths. The 2012 California Ballot Guide covers two important statewide propositions, and nearly 100 initiative and referendum measures in 28 different counties dealing with fiscal policy. The guide, which is available to all online, will also be distributed to NTU’s membership of more than 52,000 in California.
To View the 2012 California Ballot Guide Click the image below or view online here:
“State and local ballot measures are often the votes where individual citizens exercise their greatest influence, truly demonstrating the will of the people,” said NTU Vice President of Government Affairs Andrew Moylan. “While much of the focus is on candidates, the NTU Ballot Guide provides an invaluable resource for Californians seeking information about the wide range of fiscal issues they will face on the June 5th Primary Election Day.”
NTU’s Taxpayer’s Perspective, which has been published for other elections and states for many years, does more than just list ballot items; it also analyzes whether each measure is likely to expand or limit taxes and the size of government, whether on the state or local level. For example:
- Proposition 29 on the statewide ballot would impose a tax increase of nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars on overburdened citizens, despite California’s struggling economy and 11 percent unemployment. The measure would dramatically raise levies on cigarettes while creating a new commission to dole out the money in the form of subsidies for cancer research. Proposition 29 is opposed not just by taxpayer advocates, like the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, but by local businesses, law enforcement organizations, and the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times.
- On the smaller end of the scale, voters in the Gridley Unified School District of Butte County will decide whether or not to authorize $2.5 million in new debt for Elementary School Improvement District #1.
“Despite the disproportionate coverage of horse-race politics, it is voters who will have the final say on numerous pocketbook matters this year,” Moylan concluded. “Our California Ballot Guide gives them a handy and useful tool to better inform themselves of their own power.”
NTU is a non-profit, non-partisan citizen group founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes, smaller government, and economic freedom. Note: NTU’s 2012 California Ballot Guide: The Taxpayer’s Perspective is available online at www.ntu.org/CAballot.