Before yesterday’s 9-2 vote to oppose taxpayer protections, San Jose officials were forced to peddle some blatant falsehoods to justify their attack on taxpayer rights. We caught up with HJTA’s Susan Shelley who made quick work of the council’s wild disinformation-palooza…
It’s easy to get swept up in a chorus of tax and spend councilmembers, singing from the same hymnal. But during Tuesday’s 9-2 vote in favor of an anti-Prop 13 memo, Councilmembers George Casey and Bien Doan stayed consistent with their past defenses of fiscal restraint and concerns about government and tax overreach.
Assembly candidate Carol Pefley calls out the cynicism of many SJ City Council Democrats (like Mayor Mahan) who campaigned on platforms of fiscal responsibility, only to turn into tax-and-spend liberals, as evidenced by their June 16 vote to oppose the Save Prop 13 initiative.
San Jose is Prop 13 Country, but the city council remains oblivious to this fact. CM Cohen leads the council in opposing the restoration of taxpayer protections contained in this November’s Save Prop 13 act – and tells some whoppers while he’s at it. Susan Shelley at HJTA corrects Cohen’s misrepresentation of the important initiative in this week's Tax-free Tuesday. An Opp Now Exclusive.
We caught up with Susan Shelley of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Ass'n to explain why it's just basic logic to close the inequitable and economically misguided mistakes (like the Upland Loophole) in the CA tax code.
This Tuesday, SJ Council looks ready to oppose a November statewide ballot initiative that would bring reason and sanity to CA's tax code. Specifically, the initiative would close loopholes to Prop 13 that allow cities to sneak in certain tax increases with deceptive messaging and just a 50%+1 approval, even though the state Constitution and voter results have said there should be a 2/3ds threshold for new taxes. SJ Council has a long and sorry history of voting contrary to citizen will on new taxes: it opposed Prop 13 back in 1978 and endorsed a Prop 13-killer, Prop 5, in 2025, even though local voters (along with the rest of the state) decisively rejected it. An Opp Now exclusive.
SJ City Council is considering yet another assault on Prop 13, which remains wildly popular with local residents. Peter Verbica unpacks the disconnect. An Opp Now exclusive.
In the recent primary election across our fair state, county and city ballot measures raising levies are trailing or have been defeated. WSJ reports.
SJ says it has solved its budget shortfall for the coming year. But can anyone explain how raising new taxes does anything other than make SJ even less affordable? And did we just hear the sound of the can being kicked down the road--yet again? An Opp Now exclusive.
