By Robert Haugh

Santa Clara County wants voters to raise the sales tax again.

This time by another 0.625 percent. That means some local cities will have some of the highest sales taxes in the state. Depending on where you’re shopping in the County, the sales tax could increase to 9.75 to 10.5 percent.

The County says it’s needed to avoid “catastrophic” cuts to health care and social services. But here’s the truth: before asking for more money, the County, led by Supervisor Susan Ellenberg, was supposed to find savings in its enormous $12 billion budget. It didn’t, according to a Santa Clara News Online review of the minutes of Ellenberg’s Finance and Government Operations Committee.

Ellenberg represents Santa Clara. Her own committee admitted it found no cost savings before proposing the tax hike. Yup. None. That’s the entire problem. Instead of examining inefficiencies or tightening spending, county leaders took the easy way out: asking voters for more.

Santa Clara County’s budget has ballooned in recent years. The County bought three struggling private hospitals, expanding payroll and debt. Those might have been good goals, but the costs exploded. Now, the County claims it can’t fund those obligations without new taxes. That’s not sound budgeting.  That’s a bailout.

And this “temporary” tax hike? Don’t count on it staying temporary. Measure A is a general tax, meaning the County can spend the money however it wants. There’s no guarantee it will go to healthcare or essential services. Voters are being asked for a blank check with almost no accountability attached.

Then there’s fairness. A sales tax is regressive. It hits working families hardest. The more you earn, the less you feel it. The less you earn, the more it takes from your paycheck. Groceries and utilities keep rising, and now the County wants to add another layer to the cost of living in one of the most expensive places in the country.

Santa Clara County doesn’t have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem. Ellenberg’s committee had one job: find ways to save money before asking for more. It failed.

Until County leaders show taxpayers where the waste is, cut it, and prove they can manage what they already have, voters should not reward them with another tax increase.

Measure A punishes the people who can least afford it, with no clear plan, no guarantees, and minimal accountability.

On November 4, send a message to the County and Ellenberg: Do your job before you raise our taxes.

Vote NO on Measure A.

Editor’s Note:  The Mercury News and the Palo Alto Daily Post also concluded that the County is fiscally irresponsible and urged rejection of Measure A.