Let the voters decide — sometime
The Santa Fe City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to approve Mayor Javier Gonzales’ proposal to call a special election in May on imposing a tax on sodas and other sugary drinks — Red Bull-style energy elixirs, chocolate milk and frappuccinos included — to finance a program to make pre-kindergarten programs accessible to every 3- and 4-year-old in town.
It’s an ambitious, even groundbreaking plan that would take City Hall well beyond its core services and into the education sphere for the first time (with help from Santa Fe Community College, which would oversee the program’s educational services).
Gonzales deserves kudos for putting his plan on the table and for focusing tax revenues narrowly on pre-K. As the mayor notes, with state government in a budget funk and the political prospects for significant new revenue streams appearing dim, it’s unlikely that the state will do much more for early childhood education, despite support from all sides. Republican Gov. Susana Martinez has touted her own increases in pre-K funding in the past. Considering the state’s situation, Gonzales says, the city should take the job of expanding early education and trying to make it accessible to every family.
No one seems to argue with that assertion. The soda tax is the tough part. And the proposal has become tinged with politics.
Supporters of the plan imply that Councilors Joseph Maestas and Ron Trujillo are raising questions about the pre-K plan — Maestas has called for postponing voter consideration of it until the regular city elections in March 2018 and Trujillo is opposed to a soda tax as hurtful to local businesses — because they both want to run for mayor in 2018.
On the other hand, Gonzales is considering whether to run for governor or re-election as mayor (it’s even possible he could do both). Just this week, his gubernatorial ambitions were the lead item on a prominent political blog, and there was a welltimed and positive statewide TV news feature on his family life. Gonzales skeptics believe he wants a quick election on the pre-K plan as a feather in his cap as he looks toward running as the progressive choice in next year’s elections.
But even if self-promoting politics are involved on either side, that’s beside the point of whether the mayor’s idea is a good one.
The ballot item for Gonzales’ plan, as it stands now, is very simple: It asks voters to consider a 2-cents-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages “for the purpose of supporting early childhood education within the geographic boundaries of the Santa Fe Public Schools District.” The mayor has since supported excluding drinks with very small amounts of sugar and there’s been talk of somehow exempting very small businesses from the tax, even though it’s supposed be imposed on distributors, not retailers.
As the Journal has said before, it would be better if the ballot measure had more specifics: to lock in the tax revenues for meaningful pre-K services or capping administrative costs, for instance. There are and will be details in accompanying ordinances and rules, but any specifics not actually approved by the voters can always be changed by the City Council.
Arguments on the soda tax are many. Gonzales, after first pointing out the health benefits from making soda more expensive, has veered away from the nanny state argument, and focused his pitch on improving education and the futures for Santa Fe kids, especially for those whose families now can’t now afford pre-K. Many others, though, make it clear they are totally OK with making sugared drinks less affordable to boost public health.
Opponents say the tax is regressive — like any tax that gets shifted to consumers, it would hit lower-income people the hardest — and will hurt local businesses. In Philadelphia, Pepsi says it’s laying off 80-100 people, blaming a new soda tax, although skeptics doubt that’s what’s behind the job cuts and note that a similar impact hasn’t been seen in other places with soda taxes.
Santa Fe has other options. The city can raise property taxes — which already have been increased by about 20 percent by various government jurisdictions in just the past several years — and the gross receipts tax, which now adds more than 8 percent to most local purchases.
In the end, Gonzales’ plan merits placement on the ballot, with the understanding that the mayor and friends nail down even more specifics before voters go to the polls. Paying more for sweet drinks is worth considering for an expansive, well-run plan that would provide accessible pre-K by contracting with highly rated providers, what Superintendent Veronica Garcia calls “a game changer.” Gonzales has to show Santa Feans that’s what we would get.
The mayor made his plan public less than four months ago. Whether the election is in May or a year from now isn’t terribly important in the long run. Special election or regular election, this is one issue that will get plenty of attention.