Campaign to make permanent additional income tax to fund public education in California submits signatures

A campaign sponsored by the California Teachers Association (CTA) submitted more than 1.6 million signatures on April 28 for a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment that would make permanent the additional income tax enacted with the approval of Proposition 30 in 2012, which funds education and early childhood programs. The additional income tax is set to expire in 2031.

The required number of signatures in California for an initiated constitutional amendment is 874,641, which equals 8% of the vote cast in the prior gubernatorial election. The petition will now undergo a random-sample check to verify that it contains enough valid signatures.

The initiative would continue the higher marginal income tax rates on income above $361,000 for single filers and $721,000 for joint filers. The additional tax rate was adopted in 2012 for incomes above $250,000 for single filers and $500,000 for joint filers, and was extended by voters in 2016 with the approval of Proposition 55. Propositions 30 and 55 did not contain mechanisms to adjust the bracket threshold in response to inflation increases. The proposed initiative increases the threshold and ties it to inflation. Proposition 30 (2012) was approved with 63% of the vote, and Proposition 55 (2016) was approved with 55% of the vote.

In California, the income tax bracket applies to a filer's portion of income within that bracket. The chart below shows the current rates through 2030 and the tax rates if it is approved or rejected.


https://news.ballotpedia.org/2026/04/29/campaign-to-make-permanent-additional-income-tax-to-fund-public-education-in-california-submits-signatures/