☆ Taxpayer advocates: Measure A is a regressive tax on Santa Clara County’s poorest
HJTA’s Susan Shelley questions why Santa Clara County would raise sales taxes on struggling residents. If the issue is a 4–5% Medi-Cal shortfall, SCC GOP Chair Dave Johnson asks, is that really an “emergency”? He notes supervisors had no problem doubling hospital funding in recent years—now 50% of the county budget. An Opp Now exclusive Q&A.
Opportunity Now: Santa Clara County Supes say they need a sales tax hike because of a public health emergency caused by changes to Medi-Cal. Dave, you’re based in Santa Clara County. What’s the backstory to Measure A?
Santa Clara County GOP Chair Dave Johnson: County Assessor Larry Stone resigned on July 6, creating a vacancy exactly 121 days before November 4, and 120 is the number of days the county needs to set up a special election. The California State Constitution in Section 1073 requires between 112-119 days to schedule a special election.
Then the Board of Supervisors called for an end of their summer vacation to hold an emergency meeting regarding Measure A, on Thursday, August 7 at 2pm. I attended the Zoom call and saw 20 people make perfectly prepared one-minute statements in favor of the measure.
After the “public comment” the Board of Supervisors voted five to nothing approval for a ballot measure (which was released the next day) with prejudicial language calling out President Trump by name.
[Editor’s note: a lawsuit against Measure A helped remove some of the partisan language]
ON: Susan, there’s a concern that sales taxes disproportionately affect people with lower incomes. Why is Measure A’s sales tax especially problematic in Santa Clara County?
Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association VP Susan Shelley: Sales taxes raise the cost of everything, from toothpaste to school supplies to fast food. It’s burdensome and regressive. What’s so interesting is that Silicon Valley is considered the wealthiest part of the state, producing all this revenue in taxes for the state treasury. And yet it sounds like the poverty rate there is quite high?
DJ: Quite high, and the homeless rate is also high, and it's not coming down.
SS: With a high poverty rate in what should be a wealthy county, why a sales tax? This seems to be the worst possible way to raise money for services for people who are in financial need.
ON: And Santa Clara is the only county raising its sales tax in response to Medi-Cal changes. But Dave, can’t it be argued Santa Clara County needs this special tax to fund its unique hospital system?
DJ: Maybe, but it’s very hard to justify the magnitude of the increase. We’re not the only county with public hospitals, but Santa Clara County went from 25% of the budget for their hospitals to over 50% between 2022 and today, and then they say they can’t absorb a 4–5% federal cut. They chose to respond this way, which is patently untrue and not necessary.
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