San Diego’s proposition D: tax first, reform afterward
“I gave her one, they gave him two, you gave us three or more; They all returned from him to you, though they were mine before.”
I just received an ad in the mail today urging me to vote Yes on Proposition D, calling it “an important step toward pension and financial reform at City Hall.”
What step? Step number one: raise taxes. That’s always step number one. And it usually ends up being steps two through ten as well.
The proposition claims to require the city to implement ten conditions before it is allowed to raise the tax. The first three conditions contain obvious escape clauses. The fourth and eighth items don’t even require anything to happen other than “solicit” a request or a proposal. The sixth and seventh items, if I’m reading them right, don’t require anything except a one cent saving in each. It doesn’t say how much costs should be reduced, just that they must be reduced.
The tenth item is a whopper. It requires setting up a voluntary pension plan that employees can just ignore—except that it doesn’t, really, because if the city sets up a pension plan that isn’t approved by the IRS, well, the condition is still satisfied.
But what if, when the City Auditor says that the city has met these extremely easy conditions, they’re obviously just rubber-stamping the conditions so that taxes can be raised?
Taxes still go up, that’s what.
Section 13. Enjoining collection forbidden. No injunction or writ of mandate or other legal or equitable process shall issue in any suit, action or proceeding in any court against the State or the City, or against any officer of the State or the City, to prevent or enjoin the collection under this ordinance, or Part 1.6 of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, of any tax or any amount of tax required to be collected.1
Got that? If the City Auditor approves the latest Harry Potter book as meeting the conditions the city needs to meet, taxes go up. There is no recourse.
If they were serious about reform, they’d pass the reform first. An honest attempt at reform would make me more likely to approve a temporary tax. But there’s nothing here that’s honest. This is just another salvo by the status quo in the war between the status quo and reformers.
The front of the advertisement I received today is black with a dark red border, and three bullets mean to scare us into raising taxes: you’re going to die, your house is going to burn down, you’re going to be raped, because rather than implement reform we’re just going to cut paramedics, firefighters, and police officers.
It’s what they always do when they want to raise taxes. Say that the taxes are necessary for the core services of government. But there is no limit in this proposition for what this tax is spent on:
Whereas, the City will deposit all revenues it receives from the tax into the general fund of the City to be expended for any lawful government purpose; now, therefor,2
It doesn’t go for essential services, it goes to the general fund, where it can be spent on whatever the city feels like spending it on. I guess we should be happy that they’re not going to use the tax money for illegal purposes. This is San Diego, after all.3
Speaking of shenanigans, that latter part of the “Enjoining collection forbidden” clause frightens me. What is this “Part 1.6 of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code” that we’re not allowed to fight? It appears to be referencing state tax law. Division 2 is “other taxes”, part 1 is “sales and use taxes”, and chapter 6 is the collection of tax.
More specifically, Division 2 1.6 is about how the state can take whatever they want if they think someone’s been shirking sales taxes.
- Section 6701-6704
- The board, whenever it deems it necessary to ensure compliance with this part, may require any person subject thereto, to place with it any security that the board may determine.
- Section 6796-6799
- …the board may forthwith collect the amount in the following manner: The board shall seize any property, real or personal, of the person and sell the property, or a sufficient part of it, at public auction to pay the amount due together with any interest or penalties imposed for the delinquency and any costs incurred on account of the seizure and sale.
These sections are filled with legalese, but it sounds to me like proposition D takes away serious protections against state and city tax screw-ups.
Tax first, reform afterward is looking-glass reform. It’s backward. If they were serious about reform, they would pass the reforms first. Then they could come ask us for more money. That they’re asking for money first means they don’t really plan on reform.
From page 22 of the “Sample Ballot & Voter Information Pamphlet”.
↑From page 17 of the “Sample Ballot & Voter Information Pamphlet”.
↑Although, I suppose that if they’re willing to use it for illegal purposes, one uppercase whereas isn’t going to stop them.
↑
- Alice’s Evidence
- “Here!” cried Alice, quite forgetting in the flurry of the moment how large she had grown in the last few minutes, and she jumped up in such a hurry that she tipped over the jury-box with the edge of her skirt, upsetting all the jurymen on to the heads of the crowd below, and there they lay sprawling about, reminding her very much of a globe of gold-fish she had accidentally upset the week before.
- California Revenue and Taxation Code at Official California Legislative Information
- The text of California’s tax code.
More Election 2010
- Don’t mess with the deck chairs, fix the boat!
- Advice for the incoming House. Make them deny it! And don’t try to fool us by changing the deck chairs.
- End of media; to delete this media…
- There will be a crisis: but this time they got caught manufacturing their crisis. And it’s a crisis of a most despicable kind: falsely tying a candidate to child molestation.
- Nick Popaditch debates Bob Filner in CA-51
- Popaditch comes off as far more responsive to the needs of the community in this debate.
- There will be lies
- The media takes a blunder by Coons on the first amendment—and outright changes what both candidates said to make it look like a blunder by O’Donnell.
- Help Good Candidates Ride the Big Red Wave
- Looking for a candidate to spend time and/or money on? Someone who is fighting and for whom your support can make a big difference? I round up blogosphere profiles of underdog candidates and candidates in close races. Be the wave!
- 10 more pages with the topic Election 2010, and other related pages
More purchase tax
- Consumption vs. Income vs. Sales
- I would love to be convinced that consumption taxes are a better idea than income taxes. But I just don’t see how politicians wouldn’t find it easier to muck up a consumption tax worse than they’ve mucked up income taxes. Is convincing Americans to switch from an income tax to a sales tax an effective use of resources?
- Is it better to tax incomes or purchases?
- Is it better in a democratic republic for the national government to tax incomes, with an income tax, or to tax purchases, with a sales tax?
- Income tax vs. national sales tax
- There is no such thing as a fair tax. All we can do is try for the simplest, most unobstructive tax we can find.
- What’s wrong with a national sales tax?
- When considering a new tax, consider how easily that tax is abused by the state and by the state’s good intentions.
- Regulations cost money
- Regulations cost money. Do politicians really not understand this?
More San Diego
- San Diego: 5th Avenue Books and Bluestocking Books
- Facing each other across Fifth Avenue in Hillcrest, these two great bookstores complement each other well.
- San Diego, California: Footnote Books
- A crowded, tiny bookstore off the edge of Hillcrest in San Diego, this is a very good bookstore with very little space.
- Two Seasons of San Diego
- A couple of weeks ago, in San Diego’s wonderfully sunny September, I posted a photo looking over the canyon. Here is a similar photo from yesterday morning, showing our other season. September was Sunny & Mild, we are now in Misty & Mild. We do, technically, have a rainy season, but our rainy season is mostly Sunny & Mild.
- Why isn’t Bob Filner resigning?
- Because he thinks he can get away with it—and chances are, he’s right. The watchdog media becomes a lapdog media where Democrats are concerned, especially when those Democrats are in contested areas.
- Carl DeMaio talks about expanding the San Diego Convention Center
- Looks like San Diego city councilman Carl DeMaio is backing an expansion of the convention center to ensure that Comic-Con stays in San Diego. The anchor, who I can’t pick out of the Channel 6 line-up, mentions both Anaheim and Vegas as places that would like to entice the convention away.
- 10 more pages with the topic San Diego, and other related pages