Soda Industry Effort To Raise Hurdle For Local Tax Increases Qualifies For California Ballot

An initiative that would make it harder for the state and local governments to raise taxes has qualified for California’s November ballot.

It’s backed by the California Business Roundtable and the American Beverage Association.

The proposal would raise the threshold to approve general purpose local sales tax increases and extensions from a majority of voters to two-thirds. And it would make more state revenue increases subject to a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.

An eleventh-hour deal at the Capitol would ban new local tax measures on sodas in exchange for backers withdrawing their initiative. That agreement is expected to be voted on Thursday in the Legislature.

Lawmakers are also set to vote on another deal that would lead to the withdrawal of a measure from the November ballot. That one would allow Internet users to learn what companies like Facebook and Google know about them — and stop the sharing or selling of their data.