Santa Clara County Supervisors, the city of Morgan Hill and,
soon, the city of Gilroy will seriously consider asking voters to
approve sales tax measures this November.
Santa Clara County Supervisors, the city of Morgan Hill and, soon, the city of Gilroy will seriously consider asking voters to approve sales tax measures this November.
Details are still sketchy about the county’s plan, which has yet to be approved by supervisors. The county is considering placing a one-half cent sales tax measure on the November ballot to help fund county programs. Any city that participates in the sales tax plan would keep one-third of the new sales tax revenue generated within its borders.
Councilman Larry Carr has said that Morgan Hill would reap $1 million a year if supervisors and then voters approve the county’s sales tax plan.
Meanwhile, Morgan Hill officials are mulling placing a one-quarter cent sales tax measure on the ballot. If that plan receives approval from the City Council and then voters, Morgan Hill would raise $1.1 million in annual revenues.
County Supervisor Don Gage has gone on record opposing the county’s sales tax plan, and he’s absolutely right.
First, we predict failure at the polls for either of these measures.
Between the lurching economy, still-high unemployment, increasing government debt and rising fees, voters are unlikely to approve raising the sales tax to 8.75 percent in the county or a whopping 9 percent in Morgan Hill if both measures were approved.
Second, the sales tax proposal is the wrong fix for a problem that is the fault of state officials. State politicians have repeatedly raided local governments – read cities and counties – of billions of dollars that were earmarked for local coffers and diverted them to Sacramento to fix the chronic state budget mess.
The real solution – and voters need to be vocal about this – is for the governor and state legislators to overhaul state spending and to take Sacramento out of the middleman business so it can’t get its hands on monies that belong to schools and local governments.
Local government officials, with the help of the League of California cities, need to remain vocal about the ongoing plundering of local government. And citizens should remember a basic tenet of accountable government – the further away the money goes the less accountable government is for it.
Perhaps what we need is a ballot measure that keeps the state’s hands off money that rightfully should be going to the city and the county.
The local government agencies should consider putting their efforts toward that rather than going back to the taxpayers, yet again, for another increase.
Our sense is that voters are growing weary and that sentiment for a tax revolt along the lines of Proposition 13 back in the 1970s is growing.
Politicians should carefully consider that before trotting out another tax. Belt tightening and more pressure on Sacramento to quit stealing from local coffers is in order.
