Substance vs. form

Democrats in the California legislature have a plan. To solve the budget crisis, or partly to, Democrats plan to raise taxes, then lower them, then raise them again but call the new taxes "fees." That way, they can avoid (evade) the Constitutional requirement that tax increases be approved by two-thirds of both houses of the legislature.

Republicans, who constitute a little more than a third of legislators, have been blocking Democrats' attempts to raise taxes using the two-thirds requirement. According to newspaper reports, Democrats -- who apparently are a little slow on the uptake -- have finally realized that Republicans are never going to vote for tax increases.

And the courts -- which invariably look to substance rather than form -- are never going to approve this Democratic pipe dream.