This November, Bay Area voters will see dozens of tax and bond measures on local ballots designed to fund everything from sidewalks to school computers.
According to taxpayer advocates, voters should be mindful of the way those measures are written. Their impacts and costs should be clearly stated, and they should never be promoted using taxpayer dollars.
With the whittling of federal post-pandemic recovery funds from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, cities, counties and school districts are looking for new sources of revenue.
“Anytime there’s a presidential election, you’re going to see more tax and bond measures on the ballot because the big turnout is viewed as favorable,” said David Kline, spokesperson for the California Taxpayers Association. CalTax, the oldest taxpayer association in California, also runs a nonprofit nonpartisan research foundation.
Their research found nearly 500 local tax and bond measures on ballots throughout California, including sales taxes, business taxes, parcel property taxes and transient occupancy taxes.
“Hotel taxes are always popular because you could argue that you’re going to tax out of towners, not the people who are actually voting,” said Kline. “A lot of parcel taxes will increase the cost of owning property.”
“Any tax on a business is going to come out of the pockets of people who buy things from that business or contract with that business. … If the tax is going up, that just means they must try and recoup that money somewhere, and generally that’s going to mean higher prices.” David Kline, California Taxpayers Association
Each tax is described as needed for some noble purpose, he said, but they all ultimately are paid by the taxpayer, and it raises the cost of living in California.
“Any tax on a business is going to come out of the pockets of people who buy things from that business or contract with that business,” he said. “Businesses still need to hire people, and they still need to pay for any machinery they might be using, insurance, the costs of keeping the doors open. If the tax is going up, that just means they must try and recoup that money somewhere, and generally that’s going to mean higher prices.”
Following the money
The California Fair Political Practices Commission is a five-member independent, nonpartisan office that administers the Political Reform Act, which regulates campaign financing, conflicts of interest, lobbying and governmental ethics. It was created in the wake of the Watergate scandal in 1974 when voters approved Proposition 9.
The commission prosecutes hundreds of cases a year. It issues fines for violations like the misuse of campaign funds and failure to include correct disclosure statements on advertisements. Flyers and print mailings must include the words “Ad paid for by” followed by the name of the campaign committee.
The commission’s website has a heat map of violations statewide that drills down to list the actions and fines for each case.
“People should remember that the local governments get to write the ballot question, so they often use biased language,” said Kline. “A lot of school districts and local governments use their official websites to try and promote a yes vote. We’re always on the lookout for that.”
Kline urges voters to let the Fair Political Practices Commission know if they see illegal campaigning using tax dollars.
“Groups are allowed to do educational outreach, but what they are not allowed to do is to give biased information,” Kline said.
“If they’re not giving the tax rate, for example, and they’re just saying this will modernize schools and promote quality education and make outstanding this and that; if they don’t mention any of the costs or the potential effects of the measure, like changes in property values, that is not a fair representation. Under the law, if an ad has the tone and tenor of a campaign piece, then it can be considered illegal.”