Commentary What a perfect time for an initiative to cut the California sales tax by a half-cent. In announcing his new budget proposal for fiscal 2022-23, Gov. Gavin Newsom boasted the state enjoyed a $45.7 billion surplus. Inflation also is raging. On Wednesday, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics announced prices rose 7 percent from a year ago, the highest rate in 40 years. We all feel it in the grocery aisles, in the lumber yards and at the gas pump. The California sales tax currently stands at 7.25 percent, plus district taxes added by many local governments. The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration lists those, such as 9.5 percent for Los Angeles, 10.25 percent for San Fernando, 9.25 percent for Santa Ana and 7.75 percent for San Diego. (Food is exempt from the sales tax in California.) If the statewide 7.25 percent tax were cut by a …