☆ Taxpayer advocate calls out SV “billionaires” who endorse Measure A’s sales tax on the poor
The tech companies who have endorsed Measure A wouldn’t treat their own money this way. So says SVTA’s Elizabeth Brierly: while Santa Clara County sinks billions into a misguided public hospital project, it fails to show the math to justify charging taxpayers another $1.65 billion, or more. In this Opportunity Now exclusive rebuttal, Brierly slams Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s (SVLG) support for the regressive, 500 percent increase to the county’s general sales tax rates, being imposed on working families, seniors, and small businesses.
Silicon Valley Leadership Group statement: If approved, the measure would safeguard thousands of jobs.
Elizabeth Brierly responds: It’s completely unknown how they arrived at ‘thousands.’ In government-speak, so-called restructuring can just mean closing vacant positions, which typically results in zero layoffs. It’s a pretty wild statement to say ‘thousands of jobs.’ The county hasn’t shown us that analysis. Which jobs, exactly?
SVLG statement: Measure A would enact a temporary five-year, 5/8-cent sales tax…clear adherence to the five-year sunset is central to the SVLG endorsement, ensuring that Measure A remains a temporary emergency response to unprecedented federal cuts.
EB responds: In the past three decades, there’s never been a temporary tax in the County of Santa Clara that wasn’t extended. SVLG itself has pushed regressive sales taxes that were sold as temporary, but were then extended before they had the chance to expire, snatching from taxpayers the promised relief.
SVLG: [Measure A is] expected to generate roughly $330 million annually, designed to backfill over $1 billion in annual federal healthcare cuts to Santa Clara County’s public health system under H.R.1.
EB: They say they’re going to lose a billion dollars. How? Tell us how. They haven’t validated these numbers; they haven’t provided the analysis to the public.
SVLG: The measure will prevent severe disruptions to essential services at Santa Clara Valley Healthcare (SCVH).
EB: In what way is this a ‘severe disruption’? Show us the math. Let’s dig into the details and show the public how they arrive at these assumptions.
SVLG: Measure A is about making pragmatic…investments to support our employers.
EB: Measure A is not pragmatic. The County of Santa Clara was not pragmatic when it overextended into the hospital business, which is losing money every year and providing more hospital beds than Los Angeles County, which has 10 million people.
By endorsing Measure A, the SVLG isn’t preaching what it practices internally. When it’s their own money at stake, these high-tech companies — these billionaires — really crank out some rugged analysis and make hard decisions. But when it comes to spending taxpayers’ money, they haven’t done their homework.
SVLG: [Measure A will] bolster the South Bay’s economic vitality at a pivotal time.
EB: When everyone’s concerned about the cost of living and how expensive life is for everyday citizens, true-blue elected representatives wouldn’t go and jack up the county’s general sales tax rate by 500 percent, from one-eighth of a cent per sales dollar to three-fourths of a cent. Tax hikes are laughably antithetical to the goal of bolstering an economy.
SVLG: Measure A is about making…high ROI investments.
EB: We know the county is going to do additional, unrestricted spending, because while they’re portraying it as a tax to save the hospitals, they’re actually codifying it as a general tax. They’re saying it’s about making key investments, but if you claim you’re drowning, then you don’t have the time to invest in building an armada. You’re just trying to patch the leak in the boat.
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