☆ Opinion: Cortese's SB 335 an absurdly unnecessary County tax hike
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Elizabeth Brierly—Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association board member and lifelong SCC resident—criticizes Sen. Cortese's proposal to increase the sales tax rate by 33% from its current cap of 2%. SB 335 proponents say the extra cash would fund “vital” core services; but aren't those already covered in our regular budget? Brierly calls for gov't prudence and prioritization (a much-needed “financial diet”) in this Opp Now exclusive.
Why on earth would our elected representative seek to hike the cost of our choosing to shop in our own county, by over 33 percent?*
Sen. Cortese’s brazen proposal reveals how oblivious he is to the situation here on the ground. I wonder how many of my fellow county residents or small-business owners have been awarded a 10- or 15-percent pay raise recently, let alone a whopping 33.
Here is what’s most egregious about this scheme: government entities that collect sales tax as a percentage of a merchant’s revenue automatically get a raise whenever prices climb — as they are now, during this period of record-breaking monetary inflation. But such windfall profits to the county aren’t enough for our insatiable, Big Government politicians. Cortese and Gov. Newsom and their ilk would rub salt in the wound of both shoppers and merchants, by exacting a higher percentage of the already higher prices.
Meantime, what is the extra tax burden really for? If, as Cortese asserts, it is meant to fund services that are truly “vital” — core functions that only county-level government agencies are qualified to perform — it is shameful to have left those functions out of the regular annual budget.
It’s time for our representatives to go on a financial diet, recognize the fact that their budget displays their priorities, and judiciously plan for when funds won’t cover their wish list. Starting with some serious triage, county supervisors should identify (and rank) core services; prioritize those above all else; and incorporate them into the annual budget — demoting the funding of, or outright supplanting, as many nonessential, redundant, fair-weather, extraneous, or vanity projects as it takes.
Our representatives’ sincere effort to budget to the right priorities would be a welcome step toward showing respect for their constituents (read: taxpayers and customers) and helping our overtaxed neighbors throughout Santa Clara County to prosper again. Or at least, to be able to continue shopping here.
* From 1.8625 cents per dollar spent, to 2.4875 (exceeding the now abandoned 1969 cap by more than 24 percent).
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