By Donna Westfall – April 6, 2017 –

Who would have thought!  It was a question on the minds of every Californian when the Democrats reached the threshold of two thirds in both houses of the legislature, how would they use their new found freedom to raise taxes without going to a vote of the people?

Now we know because this is one of the things we learned at The Daily Town Hall Meeting this morning which started at 6 am with Supervisor, Bob Berkowitz (held Monday through Saturday at the Fisherman’s Restaurant). The Democrats are about to give us one of the largest tax increases that they have planned to go on forever.  It’s scheduled to raise taxes on every driver to bring in over $5 billion dollars.

The Democrats say they want to fix our bridges, roads and tunnels.  It’s an old story, they sell the package by convincing you that all of that money is needed.  As you look around and see potholes in local streets and roads, you can really see the need for this plan.  The plan is called Senate Bill 1.  It would increase gas and diesel excise taxes, which would make everything you buy more expensive because trucks would bare the brunt of it.  But wait, there’s more. It would cost you $100 more each year to register your car.  It would also increase the gas tax by 18 cents a gallon and that could increase each year depending on the inflation factor.

Over $700 million will not even go to fixing our roads and streets but, instead go to pay off old transportation loans from 15 years ago.  Can the legislature guarantee that the rest of the transportation funds will go to fixing our roads?  Not really.  Just look at their history.  When the recession of 2005 through 2009 hit and the state budget was under water, they just stole the funds they needed from education by raiding the education funds in the form of taking the money from Prop 98 education funds and spending it on bailing out the state general fund.  Now with both houses of the legislature in Democratic party control and a governor who wants to create a legacy, we are about to get rolled.

Who gets hurt the most by this?  It’s the lower and middle class and Seniors on fixed incomes.  As a percentage of their income, these groups will get hit the hardest.

The sad fact is that with all of these taxes, there is no guarantee that much of it will reach Del Norte County and in fact will make our situation much worse.  Let’s face it, with the increase in the taxes on cigarettes now increased by $2.00 a pack and the increase in the gas tax, it will force even more people to drive to Brookings to buy their cigarettes and fill up their gas tank.  With a disparity of over $5.00 a pack on cigarettes, some people may make a business out of buying many cartons of cigarettes in Oregon and then selling them to their friends and neighbors in Del Norte County for a nice tidy profit.

If we are going to save ourselves from this tax, we need to act now!

DO IT TODAY!!!

Email Governor Brown and ask him to veto this bill.  Want to call? Here’s his phone number: (916) 445-2841.  Tell him how SB 1 will hurt Del Norte County. If you can’t get through by phone, you can send him an email by going to his website, then “contact” category. 

Then attend The Daily Town Hall Meeting once in a while hosted by Sup. Bob Berkowitz, to learn what’s going on and how it affects you.  Oftentimes, Sup. Roger Gitlin is also in attendance.