Democrats Turn Against Direct Democracy They’re using courts and legislative tricks to block citizen initiatives.
Democrats are trying to deceive voters because they know that raising income taxes isn’t popular. Many voters for good reason don’t buy their promises that their “millionaire’s tax” won’t be extended to them. That’s the history of income taxes. Democrats inevitably seek to soak the middle class because that’s where the money is.
Witness Colorado, where Democratic lawmakers have in recent years enacted new taxes disguised as “fees”—for instance, on retail deliveries and rental cars. Calling them fees enables Democrats to circumvent a constitutional requirement that voters approve new taxes.
In response, voters put forward a ballot measure this year that sought to narrowly define fees and require voter approval for those that raise large amounts of revenue. The state Supreme Court this spring blocked the initiative on the dubious rationale that it ran afoul of a constitutional requirement that initiatives must be limited to a single subject.
The Justices—all appointed by Democratic Governors—said the initiative would create an unfair conundrum for voters and potential for corruption. The initiative presents a “danger of log rolling because it may attract a ‘yes’ vote from voters who support statewide voter approval of fees, but who would not support narrowing the definition of existing and new fees under Colorado law,” Chief Justice Monica Márquez wrote.
