Reynaldo Mena
On June 28, 2022, the California secretary of state reported that an initiative to increase the tax on personal income above $2 million by 1.75% and dedicate revenue to zero-emission vehicle projects and wildfire prevention programs had qualified for the November ballot.
Clean Air California, the campaign behind the initiative, filed 990,608 raw signatures. The final random sample count concluded that 720,238 signatures were valid. The initiated state statute needed 623,212 signatures to qualify for the ballot.
If approved, the new tax would take effect on Jan. 1, 2023, and end on Jan. 1, 2043, or, beginning in 2030, on Jan. 1 following three consecutive years in which greenhouse gas emissions were at least 80% below 1990 levels. The Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated that the additional tax would generate between $3 billion to $4.5 billion annually.
