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SCPC.org
New taxes on the ballot, make no economic sense
The Marin IJ just posted the results of a questionnaire that was put to the candidates in the Marin District 3 supervisor's election race. The questions covered a variety of topics.
With regard to the Bay Restoration tax and the child care tax, it’s important for people to begin to understand that, increasingly, the new taxes being proposed do not end up solving the problems they say they will, and in these two instances, they can actually make things worse.
In our hearts, of course, we all want to preserve our Bay and our environment. And, of course, we all want to offer childcare to those most in need. However, we already have funds budgeted for these costs. So why do we need these new taxes?
Unfortunately, the tax revenues we’re currently collecting are no longer adequate because those revenues are increasingly going to pay for government agency salary increases, and pension and benefits obligations. So we end up being told we need to approve yet another tax to fund what we’re already being taxed for.
Worse than that, however, is that both these taxes are highly regressive, and neither guarantees that their revenues will go solely to the purposes intended. As we’ve seen this time and again, tax revenues just end up subsidizing the general fund, either directly or by helping eliminate the costs of existing budget line items (because those original revenues are now going to other increasing government costs and interest costs on debt).
Sales taxes hit the poorest people the hardest. People will smaller incomes, who must still buy the basic necessities to live (clothing, household items, automobiles, etc.), see more of their money going to taxes, while wealthy individuals who can afford a $100,000 Tesla don’t even notice the difference. The offsetting “childcare” services don’t even begin to offset the financial damage done to poor families.
The tax for "Bay Restoration," on the other hand, is simply absurd. An elderly homeowner, living on Social Security, will pay $12 per year and the owner of a major regional shopping center will also pay $12 per year. That is even more regressive than a sales tax, because it’s a fixed amount.
It’s time for us to realize that the “marketing” of tax measures is just as slick as the marketing of anything else being sold to us as “consumers.”
Both these tax measures are well “packaged” to pull on the voter’s heartstrings and to make incumbents look like good guys for supporting them. But it’s a mirage.