President Trump is considering a plan to send 20 percent of the money saved by DOGE back to Americans in the form of household tax refund checks. As the people should know, a similar plan has already been performed in, of all places, California. (RELATED: The ‘DOGE Dividend’ Dilemma: Why Debt Reduction Beats Tax Refunds)
California Dollars Then
In 1987, Gov. George Deukmejian took $1.1 billion in surplus state money and sent rebate checks to taxpayers. The governor was pleased to “protect this money for the taxpayers” and honor, “the spending limit enacted by the voters through the initiative process,” a reference to the People’s Initiative to Limit Property Taxation, Proposition 13 on the 1978 ballot.
At the time, soaring property taxes burdened working families and threatened to toss the elderly out of their homes. While this was going on, the state enjoyed a budget surplus of $2.5 billion that would rise to more than $7 billion, about half the state budget.
Gov. Jerry Brown blasted Proposition 13 as “a rip-off” but it passed in a landslide, with 65 percent of the vote. Gov. Brown then proclaimed himself a “born-again tax cutter” and proclaimed support for the measure, which did not “cut” taxes.
The measure only limited the rate at which property taxes could be increased. Proposition 13 mandated no new state spending and required no new state government hires. Even so, politicians and bureaucrats blame the measure for fiscal problems that actually stem from waste and fraud.
The People’s Initiative had been in place for more than a decade but did not prevent California from boasting a budget surplus in 1987. That year, Gov. Deukmejian refunded surplus money to the people.
The checks were signed by State Controller Gray Davis, elected governor in 1998 and recalled in 2003, giving way to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. No payback to the people occurred under him or any governor since. In 2017, recurring Gov. Jerry Brown branded as “freeloaders” those who opposed a transportation package that nearly doubled Californians’ gas taxes. So Brown, a three-time presidential candidate, wasn’t a “born-again tax-cutter” after all.
California Dollars Now
The administration of Gavin Newsom, elected in 2018, deployed some of the highest income and sales taxes in all 50 states. In the style of Proposition 13, embattled Californians fought back with the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act, which gave voters the final approval on future taxes and fees imposed by state and local governments. The measure gathered nearly one million signatures and qualified for the Nov. 5, 2024 ballot, but Gov. Newsom and mentor Jerry Brown teamed up to get it taken off the ballot.
Under Gov. Newsom, no money from any budget surplus would be coming back to taxpayers. That leaves government waste as a source for the funds — in the style of the DOGE plan. On this front, California abounds in possibilities.
If University of California President Janet Napolitano can hide $175,000,000, as intrepid state auditor Elaine Howle discovered, there could be a lot more left to find. The UC’s vast DEI bureaucracy, which violates the voter-approved California Civil Rights Initiative, is another possible source of funds for the people. (RELATED: California’s Elaine Howle — DOGE Before DOGE Was Cool)
California’s vaunted bullet train is well into the billions, with no riders but a Sacramento headquarters and three regional offices. The unelected Coastal Commission rides roughshod over property rights and does nothing to mitigate wildfires. (RELATED: Time to End Bullet Train Boondoggle)
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) does little to mitigate pollution but punishes the workers by ramping up the cost of gasoline. Such counterproductive, unaccountable bureaucracies could form a source of reparations for the people.
George Deukmejian, who passed away in 2018, showed that it is possible to return money to the taxpayers who provided the funds in the first place. If Gov. Newsom follows suit, that could slow the exodus of workers and businesses from California and perhaps prompt some to return.
READ MORE from Lloyd Billingsley:
California’s Elaine Howle — DOGE Before DOGE Was Cool
Anthony Fauci Museum Exhibit Cancelled
DEI in the Ashes: Special Envoy Ric Grennel and EPA Head Lee Zeldin Visit LA
Lloyd Billingsley is a policy fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif.