PROP 6
PROPOSITION 6 — GAS TAX REPEAL
A YES vote would repeal the gas tax and vehicle fee increases enacted in 2017 under the Road Repair and Accountability Act AND it would require approval via proposition for any future hike in gas taxes or vehicle fees.
This proposition was placed on the ballot by petition signatures.
I have questions.
Q. Isn’t the legislature already prevented from raising taxes?
A. Not quite. A tax hike requires a supermajority (two-thirds) of both chambers, plus the governor’s signature. Republicans used to be able to obstruct tax increases. Now that they often can’t, expect more of these kind of propositions that handcuff the legislature from making budget decisions. This is the only way they have left to tell the rest of us what to do instead of moving to tax-free paradises like Kansas and Kentucky.
But that doesn’t mean this isn’t a good idea. Let’s find out more.
Q. How much money are we talking about here?
A. Wow: a whopping $52.4B in state revenue between 2017 and 2027. This money is being generated by $.12 per gallon on gasoline ($.20 per gallon on diesel), and by vehicle registration fees of $25-175 depending on the value of your car. In June the passage of Proposition 69 allows the legislature to spend this money on transportation infrastructure.
Annual transportation funding in California is $35B, at least a third of it from local taxes, about a fifth from the feds, and more than a quarter from the state. The state’s ability to pay its share would be slashed by more than HALF.
Q. It sounds like the RRAA (Road Repair and Accountability Act) was a good law. Why the backlash?
A. In June a state senator from Orange County, a Democrat, was RECALLED by his voters for supporting the RRAA, so Democrats are understandably worried about this in November.
Driving support for Prop 6 has apparently become the national Republican strategy for driving up GOP turnout in California in November, in order to help mitigate losses. They argue that the state has a budget surplus, and that families will save money by voting for Prop 6.
The YES camp includes state Republicans and as of July raised over $3M.
But the NO camp includes state Democrats and as of July labor groups raised over $26M. The end of September reporting numbers on both sides should be bizarre and grotesque. Governor Brown has weighted in decisively on the NO side. Police and first responders oppose Prop 6. The League of Women Voters opposes Prop 6. Latinx and seniors oppose Prop 6. The American Society of Engineers opposes Prop 6. My friend’s cat opposes Prop 6.
But HERE’S THE SHOCKER: Also in the NO camp is the California Chamber of Commerce and the Orange County Business Council. These are NOT liberals.
“Also in the NO camp is the California Chamber of Commerce and the Orange County Business Council. These are NOT liberals.”
My take, if you care:
Maintaining infrastructure, you will be surprised to learn, costs money. It provides good-paying construction jobs and, also surprising, transportation infrastructure is necessary in order to move products into elitist establishments like grocery stores.
If you excise my unhelpful snark, what I just said is the stated position of the conservative California Chamber of Commerce. (It’s worth reminding ourselves that construction corporations like it when tax money is spent on hiring them to build things.)
Governor Brown, the smartest man in the room, knows that repairing potholes costs money, a concept apparently lost on horse-and-buggy anti-tax congressional Republicans like Kevin McCarthy, who have made it their life’s mission to make every state like Kansas, with its low pay, bad roads, lack of services, and moribund economy. The reason California HAS a budget surplus is because Democrats are in charge.
But ask yourself what costs more, car repairs arising from crappy roads, or $.12 per gallon? It’s incredible to me how psychotically emotional someone can get because of a dime and two pennies, but I think Prop 6 is not really about a dime and two pennies. It is about the national GOP trying to stem the blue wave in California.
I do agree it is worth mentioning that these kinds of taxes are regressive—in other words, the burden falls mostly on the middle and lower classes. Normally Republicans love raising money this way. The president’s big federal tax “cut” does exactly that. I don’t love it, but I also think we should all invest in our roads, and the RRAA does place more of the burden on trucks and on folks who drive more.
And, it is fair to ask questions about how money is being spent. The person to ask is your elected representatives who spend their weekdays in Sacramento deciding how money should be spent. Nuking sources of funding with ballot propositions, and banning future sources of funding, amounts to cynical knee-jerk bomb-throwing.
“Nuking sources of funding with ballot propositions, and banning future sources of funding, amounts to cynical knee-jerk bomb-throwing.”
What I’d like to see is a new ballot proposition banning all future ballot propositions and rescinding all past ballot propositions that have anything to do with taxes or the budget, unless they are temporary. BOOM!
In the meantime: this cynical proposition must be defeated.
EMPHATIC NO.
#NoOn6 #Prop6
Other ideas for transportation fixes here.
