Measure A is Not Good Use of Taxpayer Money
The Santa Clara County Board of supervisors approved a sales tax increase measure to be added to our “special election” scheduled for November 4th, 2025.
The reason for the tax is to “make up” for the revenue lost to the County from the Trump federal tax cuts. But let’s be honest, in 2022, the budget from the county to the hospitals was $2.65 billion. In 2024 that number went up to $4.73 billion. But now in 2025-2026, that number will continue to grow to $6.7 billion. From $2.65 to $6.7 billion in three years? That is almost triple the budget from just 2022!
The county and its hospitals do not have a revenue problem, they have a spending problem.
That is despite there being an actual drop in population – or at best the population is about the same, as illegals move in and older families and business owners move out. The county does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.
So, to “protect” the services used by only 25% of the residents of the county, the county elected to raise the sales tax by 5/8th of one cent for the next five years (reads “forever”).
Here are a few reasons NOT to approve this measure:
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;
The measure was also designated as a “general tax”, which means the County can spend it as it wishes;
Without a full and complete understanding of how the County spends the $4.7 BILLION it received in 2024 for County Health and the $46.7 billion total that it will receive in 2025-2026, and without designating the new tax to be directed to the Health Care System, why would ANY taxpayer approve such a measure?
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 most hurts the people it is supposed to help: Low Income residents already struggling to keep up with rent and utilities;
There is no provision in this tax for those who qualify as “low income” or the elderly who are on fixed incomes;
There was no mention of additional care or support for our veterans, who should be the primary beneficiaries of any additional funding for health;
The “independent audit” mention at the end of the measure assures only protection of the County’s endless desire for additional funding with no specificity as to when this will be done.
If this measure passes, countless more people will leave the County, and a multitude of small businesses will also leave as the taxes here keep going up and up with no accountability by the County.
