ALPERN AT LARGE-Raising taxes is something that's necessary at times, and having promoted projects that led to L.A. County Measure R (which raised sales taxes to pay for rail, freeway and other transportation projects) I can honestly say I put my money where my mouth is. But whether it's Mayor Garcetti and the City Council, or Governor Brown, or anyone else, the very least they can do when they raise taxes is to call it what for what it is: a tax hike.
Of course, Mayor Garcetti--and particularly Governor Brown--are very clever, and understandably want to win elections...but intellectual honesty and moral integrity are critical if any political leader wants to retain the credibility of the electorate. Too many Californians are hurting, and too many are "just saying no" to new taxes.
It's hoped that Mayor Garcetti and others on the LA City Council (of course, the same can be said for other cities, but I live in LA) would turn down tax proposals if they lacked either popular support or sufficient transparency to woo the voters.
For example, the recent withdrawal of a proposed roads/sidewalk measure (promoted by Councilmembers Englander and Buscaino, and with good intentions on their part) was NOT based on the idea of our infrastructure not needing help so much as it was our current inability to properly use any taxes raised by the measure to fix it.
Our infrastructure needs fixing, and it's inevitable that taxes will need to be either altered or hiked in some way, shape or form to address it--but our spending and operational policies are so screwed up that the taxpayers rightfully will back off from any new taxes...no matter how great the need to spend those taxes on a given endeavor.
For example, I have been a loud and outspoken advocate for an extension of the aforementioned Measure R to allow for the long-sought Metro Rail/LAX connection and a host of other freeway, road, sidewalk, bicycle and other transportation projects. Most projects likely enjoy overwhelming support from the electorate.
Yet just as many Angelenos won't willingly pay two cents for more DWP fees on our aging water and sewage pipes because that's still a form of TAXES, because until the DWP gets its salary, pension and operations cleaned up, it'll be hard to ask rate/taxpayers for MORE TAXES.
Similarly, it will be very difficult to get two-thirds of LA County to support an extension of Measure R until it creates more parking for commuters to get out of cars and transfer via rail or bus to our urban cores, and until there are environmental/planning protections against wildly-inappropriate overdevelopment, and until the money is budgeted in a truly transparent manner.
Hence, I again refer to "Alpern's Law of Taxes" (as I've done on numerous occasions) that states: IT IS NOT THE AMOUNT OF TAXES THAT IS OF GREATEST CONCERN TO TAXPAYERS, BUT THE PERCEPTION OF HOW THOSE TAXES ARE BEING SPENT".
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This is particularly true when Californians are chafing under high taxes, low wages, and jobs that are too often without the benefits needed to achieve a promising and fulfilling quality of life...and is made worse by politicians who (either out of naiveté or "cleverness") promote laws that either end up raising taxes or spending them poorly.
For example, one of the most debated and accepted forms of healthcare reform is to increase federal spending on Medicaid (called Medi-Cal in California). Having seen first-hand as a physician what happens to large segments of the working poor when we spend federal money (or don't spend it), it's hard to avoid the idea that Medicaid isn't helpful.
Yet the money does NOT come from the blue, or from "those awful rich people", but usually from you and me. So are we spending Medi-Cal as well as we should? No. Do we tax and fund it appropriately? No. We talk about a "living wage", (which is very clever and, I know, wins elections) that includes health care costs, but whether it's businesses or consumers, it costs money from someone sooner or later.
When fee-for-service Medi-Cal is ended, and patient churning by third-rate physicians who'll too-often be the only ones who'll see them is eliminated, and patient access and monitoring is enhanced by managing Medi-Cal via well-vetted and then well-paid quality doctors and organizations (Cal-Optima in Orange County is an excellent example)...only then will Medi-Cal be spent well.
And only then will we figure out ways to come up with the right tax measures to fund Medi-Cal.
When the "living wage" paradigm didn't quite work, the "clever" folks in our cities and states talked about raising the Minimum Wage. In Los Angeles, it's now Mayor Garcetti and Westside Councilmember Mike Bonin and others (who I try to work with whenever I possibly can from the grassroots end of things) talking about "giving Angelenos a raise".
I'm pretty much in favor of giving Angelenos (particularly lower-income Angelenos) a raise, and I'm not too thrilled lately with the Chambers of Commerce who oppose a Minimum Wage hike because they've too-often promoted subverting the minimum wage by secretly hiring under-the-table or illegal immigrants. Whether it's promoting overdevelopment or subverting the Minimum Wage, Chambers of Commerce too often break the law.
Yet while the need to give hard-working Angelenos (and all Californians) a raise makes some sense in its own right, is ignoring the conclusions of the nonpartisan U.S. Congress Congressional Budget Office's on the effects of a Minimum Wage Increase very smart or helpful to lower-income Americans?
The conclusions of the non-partisan CBO is entirely consistent with what we see in Europe: jacking up the Minimum Wage and demanding more from employers (who aren't all big corporations, and more frequently are small business owners) is a TAX, and they'll respond with lowering employment as those who remain employed get more money for their work.
After all, do we see Garcetti, Bonin and the City Council promoting tax CUTS to small businesses commensurate with what we're asking these small businesses to PAY their employees? Giving Wal-Mart or big banks or any other big corporations (once they're proven to be making record profits) a good fiscal smack makes one's heart feel good, but will they then do the "Burger King shuffle" to Canada or other countries?
Governor Brown can proclaim how wonderful our state is doing compared to a few years ago, but the question of whether our economy is improving because of, or despite from, his policies is a fair one that merits an answer, and his dodging his gubernatorial challenger is hardly a show of confidence from the governor.
Governor Brown's approach to this campaign appears to some as a fait accompli that he will win the election, but it also appears he's terrified to debate the consequences of his kowtowing to public sector unions and his driving too many businesses out of California.
And "Alpern's Law of Taxes" bears repeating, insofar as whether our City or State leaders ask employers whether their taxes are being spent WELL. Are they? Are big and small employers shirking their tax obligations out of greed, or do they see taxes as lousy investments worth avoiding?
Furthermore, with 10% of Angeleno workers here illegally, how are we treating low-wage native-born Angelenos? In particular, how are we treating lower-income black and Latino Angelenos, including Angelenos who are legal immigrants or with green cards from all over the world?
Do we ask the countries of origin of our illegal immigrant population for their fair share in the costs of educating and providing health services for their citizens? Do we divert funds away from poor black and other Angelenos towards those here (and employed) because they broke the law...and NOT make a statement that we're giving short shrift to native-born and legal resident Americans who are paying their taxes and not benefiting from them?
Paying workers under the table and hiring illegally costs taxpayers MONEY sooner or later, and by promoting more of it (and even raising the Minimum Wage will likely encourage more under-the-table hiring and contracting) it is therefore a TAX. Maybe not a TAX that was consciously thought about, but--when it's all said and done--it's a TAX.
Encouraging millions more new residents--particularly low-skill, low-wage residents--into a state where a drought and an aging infrastructure cannot possibly support such a population hike? Indirectly, but promptly, the bill goes up for everything, and those with the temerity to stay have another slew of new TAXES.
Similarly, the all-corrupt manner in which LAUSD Superintendent Deasy and the LAUSD rammed the better part of $1 billion in facility funds towards iPads for all students, against the advice of virtually all student and teacher advocates? Still a TAX, and one likely to prevent new facility funding measures for years to come.
The plastic bag ban? The $0.10/paper bag fee? Another TAX. Which--again--would be fine if we knew the money was being spent well.
The list goes on and on and on, but we all want workers to get more. We want a cleaner environment. We want health care affordable and accessible to all. But a TAX is a TAX is a TAX--no matter how clever, or how it's phrased, or how it wins votes.
Do we invite another Proposition 13 backlash? Do we cleverly raise taxes, slowly and under the radar of Angelenos and other Californians, so as to shove out those older Californians with a lifetime of acquired wealth who now are fleeing the state to keep their hard-earned money and retire with the dignity for which they toiled for decades?
Californians are hurting, with the exception of a very small few, and those who are succeeding are continuously having a harder time doing so.
But no matter how clever our leaders try to be, and no matter what wonderful ideas they have at heart, and no matter what is sold to win over the hurting and taxpaying public, a TAX will (whatever its guise) always remain just that...a TAX.
(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected] . He also does regular commentary on the Mark Isler Radio Show on AM 870, and co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 1 Issue 72
Pub: Sep 5, 2014