☆ Oliverio: SB 335 would sanction (yes, more) “unrestricted” County spending

Frans Francken: Croesus shows Solon his treasures, c. 1620. Image by Wikimedia Commons

Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association's Pierluigi Oliverio scrutinizes Sen. Cortese's proposal to make our County sales tax jump from 1.86% to 2.49% (blowing past the current cap of 2%) in this Opp Now exclusive, noting that Santa Clara County already has “no lack of revenue” (and regularly squeezes taxpayers for non-priority projects). Oliverio's not alone in questioning SB 335: read analyses from watchdogs Pat Waite and Dan Kostenbauder and Elizabeth Brierly here.

This bill allows for unrestricted regressive tax increases. For example, the County of Santa Clara has a budget of over $11 billion, denoting there is no lack of revenue. Unrestricted spending allows the County to fund the writing of two books and other nonsense that is not a priority for everyday residents.

SB335 should be a major concern to all the cities in Santa Clara county as it essentially drowns out their own ability to raise taxes for city services deemed most important by their residents since the County would crowd the ballot with multiple tax increases every election year.

Related:

• Lowering the bar for raising local taxes

• How SF Bay city governments are spending your cheddar

• Sac Biz Journal: ACA 1 could be “the straw that breaks the back of many CA family businesses”

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