Tea and Taxes

Taxes. We all pay them. We all complain about them and we all
know they are necessary. Some taxes, we say, are more necessary
than others, while most we find excessive, wasteful or
misspent.
It turns out we all have a little “tea party” sentiment in us.
We like a lower-cost government and we loathe bureaucracies. We
don’t mind if someone else pays higher taxes, just don’t raise our
taxes. And lately, more and more of us have revolted against all
new or higher taxes.
If given a full democratic choice about which taxes we would be
willing to pay, how would we vote? What government services do we
favor the most? Road repairs, school funding or national security?
Police and fire services, public health programs or more jails? How
about oil exploration credits, space travel or stem cell
research? The demands on our tax dollars seem endless. When do we
get a say in how our tax money is spent, anyway?
Well, how about Nov. 2? The General Election ballot is chocked
full of tax questions.
Besides the 10 statewide propositions that all have spending and
tax implications, there are eight local school bonds seeking Sonoma
County voter approval. Also, Santa Rosa wants to increase its sales
tax levy again and a countywide Meaure W seeks to add a $10 per
vehicle fee to fund county transportation improvements.
Too bad we won’t get to make a direct vote on the Pentagon’s
budget this year. Trimming back a trillion dollars or so could make
a big difference in our health care and retirement fund costs. If
we put it to a vote, we wonder how many Tea Party members among us
would actually vote to trim Medicare and Social Security spending.
It’s easy to yell anti-tax slogans. It’s more of a challenge to
admit that most tax dollars provide beneficial good for the most
needy among us. Taxes support essential public institutions that
only government is willing to provide.
But there’s no denying that “government” keeps costing us more
and more each year. We hear about tax cuts, but when was the last
time our tax bills actually went down?
Let’s be careful what we ask for. The last time taxes took a
dramatic decrease was in June 1978, when California voters
“revolted” and passed Prop. 13. Most property taxes were frozen and
some were rolled back by as much as 50 percent. In the bargain,
local voters gave away their control of school and local government
funding.
Over the past 32 years, it is calculated that California
governments gave up $200 billion in pre-Prop. 13 property tax
collections. To make up the difference, our state and other
governments have raised sales tax levels, added new “fees” and
built-up large budget deficits and bonding expenses.
All the measures on the Nov. 2 ballot are basically attempts to
close the tax gap created by Prop. 13 and other anti-spending
measures. Prop. 13 saved millions of elderly and middle income
homeowners from losing their homes when it was passed. But it has
also brought us the “gift-wrapped time bomb” some anti-Prop. 13
critics promised at the time.
What’s left for us to do is vote for the local school and fire
district bonds and parcel taxes we like, knowing our annual tax
tally will keep going up.
Maybe, one day we will get to vote on a comprehensive tax reform
measure, like voters got to do in 1978 with Prop. 13. Maybe,
instead of nickel-and-diming ourselves (and our children) we could
turn the ballot box against the real tax-stealing culprits. That
would be our do-nothing state legislators, a legion of tenured
bureaucrats and mid-level managers, pension fund trustees and
tax-dodging corporations.
Until then, the “tea party” urge in all of us will only keep
reeling in too many wrong directions.
— Rollie Atkinson