Taxpayers can’t be LA County’s backup plan – Latest News
When authorities faces financial strain, the reflex too usually is to succeed in for the taxpayer’s wallet.
That is strictly what is going on with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ choice to put a half-cent gross sales tax increase on the June poll. I voted no as a result of backfilling federal funding cuts on the backs of county taxpayers is simply plain flawed.
LA County residents are already stretched skinny. Inflation has pushed up the price of groceries, gasoline, utilities, and insurance coverage. Housing prices stay among the many highest within the nation.
According to information reported by Bloomberg News, LA now carries the very best gross sales tax fee of any main metropolitan area within the nation.
Kathryn Barger (above) reveals why she voted no for a half-cent gross sales tax increase on the June poll. Getty Images
In a number of cities, shoppers already pay 10.25 p.c on the register. In Lancaster and Palmdale — two communities that had been as soon as thought-about amongst essentially the most inexpensive within the area — the gross sales tax fee is now 11.25 p.c.
This proposal would push these charges even larger.
Supporters argue that the county faces actual healthcare funding challenges. That is true. But acknowledging a major problem doesn’t justify a flawed answer.
Raising taxes mustn’t be authorities’s first response, particularly when these taxes fall hardest on working households and seniors dwelling on fixed incomes.
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A gross sales tax increase doesn’t distinguish between somebody barely getting by and somebody properly off. For many households and people, there may be no cushion left to soak up one other increase.
There can be a broader financial consequence. Los Angeles County is already struggling to retain companies. Employers weigh tax burdens when deciding the place to increase, rent, or relocate. Increasing the gross sales tax additional dangers making our county much less aggressive and fewer engaging for shoppers to buy and for companies to operate. The end result may be fewer jobs and fewer financial exercise.
That is clearly the other of what we need.
Fiscal accountability means setting priorities and exhausting each different option earlier than asking taxpayers to pay more. It additionally means demanding stronger commitments from our state leaders, who play a main position in funding health care systems that serve weak populations.
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Local taxpayers mustn’t routinely change into the financial security internet for funding gaps created elsewhere.
Equally troubling is the construction of the measure itself. If the county goes to ask voters to approve a tax increase, it ought to be a particular tax with a clearly outlined function, enforceable spending restrictions, and significant oversight.
The measure positioned on the poll is a normal tax. That means the income can be used for a selection of county wants, not solely the health care functions cited in public discussions.
Under the California structure, a normal tax can be handed by a easy majority vote. A particular tax, in distinction, requires a two-thirds vote. Perhaps that’s the reason my colleagues solely proposed a normal tax. It has a a lot decrease threshold for passage.
But taxpayers deserve specificity. They deserve transparency. And they deserve accountability.
Good governance can be about good stewardship. Our north star ought to be defending the public’s hard-earned {dollars} and making certain that when authorities spends, it does so correctly and with self-discipline.
My vote was grounded in a easy precept: Government ought to reside within its means each time doable, and when it asks for more, it should make a clear, accountable case to the people footing the invoice.
Kathryn Barger is the supervisor for the fifth district of LA County, representing 2 million people.
