☆ Cupertino Mayor: Measure A is “not the right way to fund our hospitals”
A sales tax is unfair to renters and working families, says Cupertino Mayor Liangfang Chao, and Measure A will “double the burden” for residents who already pay into the El Camino Hospital District. Meantime, it siphons fundraising power out of Milpitas, and other cities facing deficits. Before asking taxpayers to “throw more money into a broken system,” one that costs twice more per resident than LA County, she says Santa Clara County should provide a credible plan for health spending. An exclusive commentary.
Almost every former and current mayor I’ve spoken with agrees: a sales tax is not the right way to fund our hospitals. A parcel tax would be more equitable, asking larger property owners to carry more of the responsibility instead of renters and families already struggling to make ends meet. Another alternative is a healthcare district, like the El Camino Hospital District, which has operated successfully with an elected board, annual audits, and local accountability.
Measure A is especially unfair to some communities. Residents in the El Camino Hospital District—including Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and most of Sunnyvale—already pay a property tax to support El Camino Hospital. If Measure A passes, they will also pay the new Countywide sales tax to fund other hospitals—double the burden. At the same time, cities facing deficits and hoping to raise revenue through their own local sales tax—such as Milpitas—will lose that option, since Measure A would take up the limited sales tax capacity.
In just a decade, the County’s health spending has more than doubled, from $2.2 billion (FY2015) to over $6.1 billion (FY2025). By contrast, Los Angeles County—with five times the population—spends about $14 billion; we now spend more than twice as much per resident on public health. Until Santa Clara County provides a credible, sustainable plan, it is not right to ask residents to throw more money into a broken system.
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