Taxes & cost of living
Taxes, cost-of-living relief, price gouging, supermajority requirements, and the broader affordability crisis.
Related ballot measures
Explicit support (1)
Chad Bianco (Republican) — Governor
…rue reform in our broken criminal justice system. We will restore and prioritize public safety in California. AFFORDABILITY Cut taxes on working families and businesses Stop the over-regulation of California’s economy to…
Mentions, position unclear (20)
Al Muratsuchi (No Party Preference) — Superintendent of Public Instruction
…g Jobs and Improving the Economy Excerpt: “In the State Assembly, he will continue to work hard to reform the tax code, crack down on frivolous lawsuits and make small business development top priorities to help get our…
Antonio Villaraigosa (Democratic) — Governor
…mpaign website Villaraigosa’s campaign website stated the following: Issues A Thriving California Starts with Affordability California is the state where anything is possible with hard work and determination. But our fut…
Ben Allen (Democratic) — Insurance Commissioner
…ia, we’re already seeing the impacts through more intense wildfires and growing challenges with insurance and affordability. That’s why I’ve spent years working on climate and wildfire policy, and why I believe we need t…
Dana Schultz (Nonpartisan) — Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector
…later served in leadership roles at the County Executive Office, the Probation Department, and the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office, where I helped oversee financial operations, budgeting, and strategic initiatives. Tod…
Donald P. (Don) Wagner (Republican) — Secretary of State
…South Orange County Community College District running Irvine Valley College, I balanced every budget without tax increases. Keep Irvine Safe. Irvine must remain the safest city of its size in America. As Mayor, I will c…
Gloria Romero (Republican) — Lieutenant Governor
…e necessity of many of our laws and regulations, which have created hardships in homebuilding, driving up the cost of living and decreasing homeownership rates. What areas of public policy are you personally passionate a…
Jane Kim (Democratic) — Insurance Commissioner
…ed member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Board of Education. I authored California’s first $15 minimum wage, passed the strongest tenant protections in the country, negotiated record levels of affordable h…
Janelle Kellman (Democratic) — Lieutenant Governor
…orce development, small businesses, and clean energy jobs, we can build a climate-smart economy that restores affordability across CA. The Lieutenant Governor holds significant power to shape our future. From serving as…
Janet Keo Conklin (Nonpartisan) — Orange County Assessor
…s their rights. I’ll guide families through local protections for homeowners, helping them preserve their low tax bases and keep their homes. I’ll protect homeowners and small businesses from unfair valuation spikes whil…
Katie Porter (Democratic) — Governor
…paign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office? Housing affordability is California’s most urgent challenge. Time is money in housing. I plan to speed up building by…
Malia M. Cohen (Democratic) — Controller
…u want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office? I plan to be a watchdog over California’s tax dollars to ensure that communities across the state are getting the funding they deserve. I have the exper…
Marjorie Mikels (Green) — Attorney General
…es committed in our name, both at home and abroad, with lethal weapons and surveillance tools bought with our tax dollars. Laws prohibiting teachers from freely discussing Zionist-US complicity in war crimes must be stri…
Matt Mahan (Democratic) — Governor
…your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office? Affordability With accountability and true boldness, we can make California affordable again, starting with bu…
Michael Tubbs (Democratic) — Lieutenant Governor
…e neighborhoods with the highest unemployment rates into “Job Creation Zones” Target these neighborhoods with tax credits, fee abatement, repayable loans, and workforce investments Work with federal, state, county and ci…
Shari Freidenrich (Nonpartisan) — Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector
…responses. Expand all | Collapse all Who are you? Tell us about yourself. I am the current Elected Treasurer-Tax Collector and have run unopposed in the 2014, 2018 and 2022 elections. I have saved taxpayers almost $1 Bi…
Stacy A. Korsgaden (Republican) — Insurance Commissioner
…is an experienced insurance professional who has a clear, practical plan to restore stability, fairness, and affordability to the insurance marketplace. Restore Competition and Bring Insurers Back to California When com…
Steve Hilton (Republican) — Governor
…work, prioritizing practical results not ideological crusades. And of course we need to massively reduce the tax burden on people and businesses. That means cutting back the state budget, which has gone up by 50%, after…
Tom Steyer (Democratic) — Governor
…o that historic level of production. We can build 1 million homes over four years and fundamentally transform affordability in our state. Building should be easy. We should bring the same innovation and technology synony…
Tony Thurmond (Democratic) — Governor
…tter—in public education, job creation, worker protections, crime prevention and healthcare accessibility and affordability. If I am elected, I plan to continue my work of improving our schools, reducing dropout rates, p…
Xavier Becerra (Democratic) — Governor
…ing it easier to build. That means cutting unnecessary red tape, speeding up approvals for projects that meet affordability and environmental standards, and reducing unnecessary costs. At the same time, I will make sure…
Methodology
Candidates’ published 2026 campaign-themes text on Ballotpedia is searched for the phrases below. When a match is found, a ~220-character snippet is extracted and scanned for support- or opposition-signal phrases. Classification is intentionally conservative — the snippet is the source of truth.
Match phrases: tax, cost of living, affordability, price gouging, inflation, wage, minimum wage, supermajority, two-thirds, tax cut, tax increase, property tax, real estate transfer tax
Support signals: lower cost, lower prices, cut taxes, raise minimum wage, stand up to price gouging, tax relief, supermajority requirement, two-thirds vote
Opposition signals: raise taxes, new tax, block tax cut