A statewide ballot measure up for a vote in November could upend the lithium tax as well as dozens more local taxes and fees.
The realization of Lithium Valley would put Imperial County on the map as a leader in green energy production — once the companies extracting the highly valuable metal from deep under the Salton Sea are up and running.
If the tax is repealed, the community leaders who fought for the lithium tax say they would be forced to start from scratch in their efforts to ensure local communities benefit, embarking on another challenging and costly campaign to educate voters about the benefits of taxing the industry. They argued that if private companies were going to take Imperial Valley resources, they would need to address the fact that the county has the highest unemployment rates in the state, as well as health issues stemming from exposure to toxic sediment from the Salton Sea.
At first Kelley had imagined creating a local tax, but state legislators pushed it through on the state level. He says that if the tax is upended, local leaders would rally to educate voters on how the tax revenues would be used and why it’s important. “We'd have to have a really rigorous, robust campaign to have enough people understand how this is a tax that was passed, then repealed by this new ballot initiative.”Deep-pocketed special interests are driving the ballot measure.
State tax increases: Current law requires a two-thirds vote by the California State Legislature. The measure would also require voters statewide to approve the tax by a majority vote. In the last weeks, high profile politicians such as former Gov. Jerry Brown, also a Democrat, have joined Newsom’s call. Meanwhile, Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher came out in its defense.that “the right of the people to the initiative should not be infringed by shenanigans. And that's exactly what's happening right now.”
Ben Triffo, a lobbyist with the League of California Cities, said that proponents of the bill are misleading voters about who it serves.
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