What you need to know here is that here in California voters passed Prop 13 a bunch of years ago which requires a 2/3 vote to raise taxes. So in order to raise taxes on gas, income and sales, the Democrat-controlled California legislature has simply begun calling them fees and was able to vote in a tax-hiking budget that may very well violate the state constitution... WITHOUT A SINGLE REPUBLICAN VOTE IN FAVOR.

SacBee article.

UPDATE from The Flashreport:

Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, in a column featured on the FlashReport this morning, makes it clear that this proposal is the equivalent of "shredding the State Constitution" -- and says that these end-runs to Proposition 13 will end up being challenged in court.

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And the whole affair is perfectly legal.

Perata raised about $2.7 million to fight Proposition 11, including $602,000 from the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. The day after the redistricting measure was approved, the Oakland Democrat moved $1.5 million from his No on 11 fund to a legal defense fund to pay bills he's run up fighting a corruption investigation.

Doh! Obviously the Big Labor bosses of the union are tickled pink that they get to subvert union money to help defend a corrupt politician. But not all the rank and file agree.

On PacoVilla's Corrections Blog, a Web site popular with state correctional officers, one user wrote: "Not only did we (CCPOA) back the wrong horse (No on 11) but now we're paying for Perata's corruption defense and from Lance's comment … it sounds like we're very happy to be privileged to do so."

This is happening in light of the Dem controlled Legislatures attempt to override the will of the people that voted for Prop 13 and change the term "tax" into "fee" in order to avoid the 2/3 votes necessary to pass new taxes. Why do Californians keep voting these ass-wipes into the majority?

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