{"id":9582,"date":"2023-04-21T10:05:39","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T17:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582"},"modified":"2023-04-21T10:05:39","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T17:05:39","slug":"ca-politicians-want-to-reveal-your-income-to-your-utility-company-to-raise-your-rates-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582","title":{"rendered":"CA Politicians Want to Reveal Your Income to Your Utility Company to Raise Your Rates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The original article can be read <a href=\"https:\/\/reformcalifornia.org\/news\/ca-politicians-want-to-reveal-your-income-to-your-utility-company-to-raise-your-rates\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"heading-stories\">California politicians want to impose a new \u201ccharge\u201d on your utility bill that you have to pay regardless of whether you use any energy that month and the rate will now be based on your income. Reform California opposes the charge and calls it an illegal tax and a violation of privacy.<\/h4>\n<div class=\"rich-text-block-4 w-richtext\">\n<p>Californians are still suffering under some of the highest utility rates in the country, and many can barely afford to pay their bills.<\/p>\n<p>Now California Democrat politicians want to impose a new \u201cflat fee\u201d on all utility bills based on each household\u2019s income for the year. That means many residents will pay a charge of $128 per month \u2013 while low income and other \u201cfavored\u201d groups pay just $24 for the SAME SERVICE.<\/p>\n<p>Opponents say California Democrats are just playing class warfare and the \u201cfee\u201d is really an illegal tax on most Californians to subsidize the bills of lower-income residents.<\/p>\n<p>The fixed rates are required under\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB205\">Assembly Bill 205 (AB 205)<\/a>, which was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom (D) in 2022. The bill states that \u201cthe commission may authorize fixed charges [for utilities] \u2026 The fixed charge shall be established on an income-graduated basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The specific rates in this \u201cflat fee\u201d scheme is now being voted on by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The proposal would charge customers of Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas &amp; Electric, and San Diego Gas &amp; Electric fixed rates based on income. For San Diego Gas &amp; Electric customers, the rates would be as follows:<\/p>\n<ul role=\"list\">\n<li><strong>Income of under $28,000:<\/strong>\u00a0$24\/month<\/li>\n<li><strong>Income of $28,000-69,000:<\/strong>\u00a0$34\/month<\/li>\n<li><strong>Income of $69,000-180,000:<\/strong>\u00a0$73\/month<\/li>\n<li><strong>Income of over $180,000:<\/strong>\u00a0$128\/month<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Carl DeMaio, chairman of the tax-fighting organization Reform California, says that AB 205 and the CPUC proposal is fatally flawed \u2014 and even illegal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCalifornia\u2019s Prop 218 says that you\u2019re not allowed to favor one customer over another, but that\u2019s exactly what this proposal would do \u2014 favor customers and give them better or worse rates based on their income,\u201d said DeMaio.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis would be illegal if this was nearly any other service, but because these utility companies are merely charging the rates imposed by the government itself, they\u2019re skirting this requirement \u2014 but that doesn\u2019t mean this will be free from legal challenges,\u201d explained DeMaio.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we allow the state to charge you differently based on factors like your income, then what factors might come next \u2014 your race, your sex?\u201d asked DeMaio. \u201cWhy should one resident be forced to subsidize another resident when we already pay our taxes, some of which already helps give breaks to low income residents?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>DeMaio proposes a different solution to penalizing higher-earning Californians: blame the politicians responsible for making the utility rates so high in the first place and demand they take action to reduce the actual costs associated.<\/p>\n<p>DeMaio points to a recent report by the Transparency Foundation that found $4.5 billion in hidden taxes imposed by politicians \u2014 among other things under state control and can be changed immediately \u2014 that are causing high utility rates.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/reformcalifornia.org\/news\/new-study-exposes-4-5-billion-in-hidden-state-taxes-on-california-utility-bills-climate-mandates-add-even-more-costs\">&gt;&gt;&gt; Read report on utility rates<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But DeMaio also brings up another worrying point about the income-based proposal: how will utility companies know your income?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour state government is going to tell a private company what income you disclosed on your tax returns,\u201d explained DeMaio. \u201cYou\u2019ll have no privacy whatsoever \u2014 how else will they enforce this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>How can concerned Californians help stop this proposal and protect their privacy?<\/p>\n<p>DeMaio says the best way is to get involved in Reform California\u2019s campaign to pass the Taxpayer Protection Initiative in 2024. The Taxpayer Protection Initiative is a measure that will appear on the ballot that will help stop a lot of taxes and fees in their tracks.<\/p>\n<p>The Taxpayer Protection Initiative would require that any taxes or fees must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the California State Legislature and a vote of the people of California. The measure also prevents the government from charging a \u2018fee\u2019 for what is really a tax.<\/p>\n<p>The Taxpayer Protection Initiative would ensure it applies to fees by defining taxes as everything that you pay that government directs, except when:<\/p>\n<ol role=\"list\">\n<li>A payment is voluntary;<\/li>\n<li>What you are charged gives you a product or service in return; or<\/li>\n<li>The amount you are charged does not exceed the value of the service<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>DeMaio says if passed the initiative would most certainly be invoked to challenge the legality of the utility rate flat fee scheme being currently proposed. The CPUC proposal violates the third provision because some residents would be paying more than the value of the service \u2014 making the \u201cfee\u201d defined as a tax.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe utility rate \u2018flat fee\u2019 is really a tax because it charges wealthier Californians a higher cost than the value of the service in order to subsidize or pay for services for lower income residents,\u201d explained DeMaio.<\/p>\n<p>DeMaio and Reform California are leading the campaign to pass the Taxpayer Protection Initiative to defeat crazy proposals like the utility rate \u201cflat fee\u201d up and down the state. Join the campaign today to fight back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Original Article Link: <a href=\"https:\/\/reformcalifornia.org\/news\/ca-politicians-want-to-reveal-your-income-to-your-utility-company-to-raise-your-rates\">CA Politicians Want to Reveal Your Income to Your Utility Company to Raise Your Rates (reformcalifornia.org)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Image Credit: Canva<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The original article can be read here. California politicians want to impose a new \u201ccharge\u201d on your utility bill that you have to pay regardless of whether you use any energy that month and the rate will now be based on your income. Reform California opposes the charge and calls it an illegal tax and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-taxes"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>CA Politicians Want to Reveal Your Income to Your Utility Company to Raise Your Rates - San Diego News Desk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CA Politicians Want to Reveal Your Income to Your Utility Company to Raise Your Rates - San Diego News Desk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The original article can be read here. California politicians want to impose a new \u201ccharge\u201d on your utility bill that you have to pay regardless of whether you use any energy that month and the rate will now be based on your income. Reform California opposes the charge and calls it an illegal tax and...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"San Diego News Desk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-21T17:05:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/o-66.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"San Diego News Desk\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/\",\"sameAs\":[],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Logo-SanDiegoNewsDesk-Article.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Logo-SanDiegoNewsDesk-Article.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"San Diego News Desk\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/\",\"name\":\"San Diego News Desk\",\"description\":\"Your Source for News in San Diego\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/o-66.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/o-66.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582\",\"name\":\"CA Politicians Want to Reveal Your Income to Your Utility Company to Raise Your Rates - San Diego News Desk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-21T17:05:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-21T17:05:39+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CA Politicians Want to Reveal Your Income to Your Utility Company to Raise Your Rates\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5bed4fc07270caa9fa05a8b26be4751\"},\"headline\":\"CA Politicians Want to Reveal Your Income to Your Utility Company to Raise Your Rates\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-21T17:05:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-21T17:05:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582#webpage\"},\"wordCount\":882,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=9582#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/o-66.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Economy\",\"Taxes\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5bed4fc07270caa9fa05a8b26be4751\",\"name\":\"San Diego News Desk\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05062ed7eb31bfe5ee9233a235e7d2e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05062ed7eb31bfe5ee9233a235e7d2e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"San Diego News Desk\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}