Most of us living in the unincorporated areas of Marin County have been assessed a Fire Tax which is called a “Fee.” We were not able to vote on this tax because our state wanted another money grab because of their fiscal irresponsibility. Indian Valley, Wild Horse Valley and the Atherton Areas of Novato are already covered by The Novato Fire Dept. through our high real estate taxes. We also pay a tremendous amount of state taxes. This is not what our democracy is about and it is WRONG.
As no county or state politician is willing to do the right thing and fight for us in this regard, The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA) has sued the state over this so-called Fire Prevention Fee.
True to form, our state has buried HJTA with paperwork and has done their best to delay this suit. HJTA is currently filtering through 12,000 pages of CalFire documents related to Fire Tax expenditures. Once this daunting task is completed HJTA will ask the judge for a final decision. (Source HJTA)
In the meantime if you live in the unincorporated areas of Marin, keep on opening up your wallet to pay this annual fee. If you don’t pay, the state has been known to put a lien on your house and will charge you fines! Is this the government you want?
For more information check out http://firetaxprotest.org/