Mahan signals doubt on county tax measure, setting up potential political fight with supes

SANTA CLARA COUNTY’S three-month sprint to raise sales taxes could stage a showdown between one of California’s most progressive Board of Supervisors and one of the state’s most centrist Democrats.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has declined to state his position on Santa Clara County’s proposed five-eighths cent sales tax increase measure, which county supervisors are asking voters to approve in the Nov. 4 special election. They argue the general tax increase will help keep California’s second largest public health care system alive amid massive federal spending cuts.