Measure A piles more taxes on a “broken healthcare system," says local youth leader
Taxpayers should demand accountability from their government, said Los Altos Institution fellow Athan Joshi. At a rally against Measure A, the Opportunity Now wunderkind contributor (he's in high school) reminded his audience that the 5/8-cent sales tax is the latest, but not the last, in a decades-long cavalcade of tax hikes funding “mediocre services.” Some residents will even be “double taxed,” he warned, to prop up bloated payrolls and retirement benefits for SC County employees.
Hello. My name is Athan Joshi. I am a junior at Los Altos High school and write about public finance in Santa Clara County and California. I am also a fellow on Public Finances at the Los Altos Institution, the world's first high schoolers-led public policy think tank.
I would like to thank Mr. [Tony] Guan for inviting me and I am honored to speak amongst such distinguished guests.
Over the past decade, Santa Clara County’s budget has roughly tripled while the County’s population has remained stagnant at around 1.9 million and yet we are being asked to add another $330 million a year through Measure A.
If spending has soared while services lag, why is the answer always another tax?
Over the last 25 years, the County has stacked multiple local add-ons to the Sales Tax:
0.5% Measure A (2000) for 30 years to fund BART and major corridors.
Followed by 0.125% Measure B (2008) for 30 years to operate and maintain the future BART line.
After the recession, the County added a general 0.125% with Measure A (2012) which continues even now as Measure B (2018).
Another 0.5% of Measure B (2016) for general transportation.
Then, Caltrain’s 2020 0.125% Measure RR.
And now we have Measure A being proposed to fund the broken healthcare system.
Importantly, residents in the El Camino Healthcare District already pay a hospital-supporting property tax. So, Measure A will essentially double tax the residents.
Mind you, this is not the end. We have SB-63, the “Keep Transit Alive” tax, which will be put to a vote next year.
Measure A asks voters to trust the same governance model that brought stacked taxes and mediocre service.
It’s high time we, as taxpayers, demand accountability from the County leaders before approving any new taxes.
Our taxes can’t be funding bloated payrolls and generous retirement benefits for county employees.
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