Last week, my colleague, Mike Spence posted on the subject of various cities and school districts having sales taxes and bond measures on the ballot:

Got Tax Increases? L.A. Has Plenty

Now, I hear from several sources in certain school districts and city halls, where finance department bureaucrats are working overtime by talking about "Parcel Taxes" as another source of revenue, due to declining revenues from the state, but no talk about cutting programs or services.

In 2004, Walnut Valley Unified School District floated a "Parcel Tax" by calling it a "Schools Improvement Tax" known as Measure K, which sounded too good, but the voters knew better and did not approve the measure.

In 2006, the City of Diamond Bar placed a Library Tax (a.k.a. Parcel Tax) on the ballot that was known as Measure L, which had a "perpetuity" language in the measure for a county library to be run by county bureaucrats, but the City of Diamond Bar would have held the title to the building.  Eventually, Measure L was strongly defeated by a 71% of the vote. 

Thankfully, any "Parcel Tax" measure that is placed on a ballot requires a 2/3rds approval by the voters. 

Therefore, It would be wise for those crunching the numbers by saving time and money should not suggest a "Parcel Tax" as an easy way out of the revenue problem.  Perhaps they should try another concept by looking at the expenditures side of the balance sheet to trim costs without hitting the family budget. 

Seriously, one can't look with a straight face by saying that the taxpayers should be on the hook, because the money that the taxpayers are already giving to the government isn't enough. 

Bottom line:  the voters will draw the line in the sand on parcel taxes or taxes of any kind, because eventually there will be a revolt at the next election and the incumbents will get the heat by not putting pressure on the bureaucracy through reforms and accountability.