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Makes permanent existing voter-approved tax rates for individuals earning over $371,000 (adjusted annually for inflation). Allocates tax revenues to public education.
Official source: https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/3/index.htm
Source captured 2026-10-08.
An income tax increase on high-income earners in place since 2012 would become permanent instead of expiring in 2031.
An income tax increase on high-income earners in place since 2012 would expire in 2031.
Official voter guide · source captured 2026-10-08. Read the official overview
Prepared by the Attorney General. Read the official title and summary
Legislative Analyst’s estimate, published in the official voter guide. Read the complete analysis
Most State Money Comes From the Income Tax. The income tax is the state’s largest tax. It pays for most spending from the state’s main operating account, the General Fund. The General Fund is the account the state uses to pay for most public services, including education, health care, and prisons. The tax applies to most types of income, such as salaries, wages, interest, and profits from the sale of stocks, property, and other investments. The income tax rate starts out low and gradually goes up for taxpayers with higher incomes. For example, a married couple pays a 1 percent tax on the first $21,000 of income, a 2 percent tax on income between $21,000 and $50,000, and a 4 percent tax on income between $50,000 and $80,000.
Prior Voter-Approved Tax Increases. Voters approved Proposition 30 in 2012 to temporarily increase income tax rates on high-income taxpayers. In 2016, voters approved Proposition 55 to extend these higher rates until 2030. The top 2 percent of California taxpayers pay these higher rates. These taxpayers pay about half of all state income taxes.
How Does the State Spend Its Money? This year, the state plans to spend about $250 billion from the General Fund to pay for services to the public. About half of this spending is for schools, community colleges, and the state’s public universities. (The State Constitution sets a minimum spending level for schools and community colleges.) About another one-third of state spending is for health and human services programs, mainly for the state’s low-income health insurance program, Medi-Cal. The rest goes mostly to prisons, courts, and other state services.
Figures and full document formatting are available in the official analysis.
Proposition 3 makes the higher income tax rates established by Proposition 30 permanent instead of letting them expire in 2031. Figure 1 shows what income tax rates would be if this measure passes and what they would be if it is rejected.
Figures and full document formatting are available in the official analysis.
Proposition 3 Would Bring in Between $5 Billion and $15 Billion Each Year. The amount of money brought in by Proposition 3 will go up and down a lot from year to year. This is because much of the revenue comes from taxing income that is closely tied to the stock market, which is always changing. In a weak year, the proposition might bring in around $5 billion in revenue to the state. In a strong year, the proposition might bring in $15 billion in revenue to the state. In most years, revenue would be in between these amounts.
Funding for Education and Other Programs. Proposition 3 results in funding for education and other programs. Roughly 40 percent of the funding would go to schools and community colleges. The rest would go to other state programs. Part of this amount would be set aside in budget reserves the state could use to fund these programs when revenues decline.
Figures and full document formatting are available in the official analysis.
These are the authors’ advocacy statements, not impartial analysis or CalBallot endorsements. Official agencies have not checked these arguments for accuracy.
PROPOSITION 3 PROTECTS OUR SCHOOLS AND HEALTHCARE WITHOUT RAISING YOUR TAXES. Prop. 3 prevents a massive tax cut for millionaires and billionaires by maintaining the current tax rates the wealthiest 2% have paid for 15 years and requires strict accountability and audits to ensure school funding gets to classrooms. Vote YES.
Californians already pay the nation’s highest income, sales, and gas taxes—and have the highest cost of living. Prop. 3 makes temporary income taxes permanent while Sacramento wastes billions on failed programs instead of voters’ priorities. Don’t reward failure. Fix spending first before making taxes permanent. No on Prop. 3.
Read the full arguments, authors and rebuttals
These are the submitted lists in the official overview, not exhaustive lists of endorsements. “None submitted” does not mean no opposition exists.
Official voter guide · source captured 2026-10-08. Read the official overview
SOS-reported contributions to primarily formed committees. These are contributions, not spending. Some committees work on several measures or transfer money to other committees; do not add these figures across measures or treat them as unique donor dollars.
$46,260,006
Reported through 2026-10-06 · 4 committee(s)
$5,500
Reported through 2026-10-06 · 1 committee(s)
SOS contribution totals and reporting scope · captured 2026-10-08.
FPPC list updated 2026-10-06. These lists cover qualifying committees, not every donor or all campaign money. They are not a breakdown of the SOS totals above: the sources have different reporting coverage, and even one FPPC donor amount can exceed a displayed SOS total. An asterisk (*) marks money for a committee involved in multiple measures; it cannot be allocated to this measure alone. Lists below are not added together.
Open the FPPC lists and methodology
This is a reporting snapshot. A contribution timeline, donor concentration and sector breakdown have not been calculated for these 2026 records. Earlier elections’ receipt totals use CalBallot’s separate historical finance dataset.