County of Santa Clara Writes Itself A Blank Check

By David G. Johnson, SVGOP Chairman

This afternoon, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors effectively wrote itself a blank check, by voting 5-0 in favor of a 5/8th of a % sales tax increase for the next five years, county wide.  

This new tax will appear on the November 4th "Special Election" ballot.  In order to pass, it will likely only need 50% plus 1 vote to approve.

There were very few numbers given as part of the "discussion" in Council Chambers in a meeting held at 2PM.

Some numbers stood out:  The sales tax would generate $330 million a year or $1.65 billion over 5 years.

That number well exceeds the anticipated impact of the federal cuts by over $300 million over the same timeframe.

If only 25% of the residents in the county use the County Medical & Health Services, why do 100% of residents have to pay for it?

This is a REGRESSIVE TAX - One that hurts most the people it is supposed to help: Low Income residents already struggling to keep up with rent and utilities.

More people will leave the County, and small businesses will also leave in droves as the taxes here keep going up and up with no accountability by the County.

NOTE, they’ve decided they’ll present it as a General Sales Tax increase (requiring 50%+1 approval), even though they claim it’s really a Special Use Sales Tax (requiring 2/3 of the vote). NOTE ALSO, that no where in the discussion did they mention the real reason Santa Clara County is losing MediCal funds due to passage of HR-1; because they choose to pay for healthcare of those in our country illegally.

SVGOP is a firm "NO" on the sales tax increase.