Prop. 6 — repeal gas tax increase
Yes: Spending more on gas and cars harms California families
There are few cities in America where income inequality is more pronounced than San Francisco. The relatively small percentage of San Franciscans who still considered themselves “middle class” are under constant assault from higher taxes and more regulations. That’s why city residents ought to embrace Proposition 6, which would repeal the enormous increase in both California’s gas and car taxes.
Prop. 6 was placed on the ballot by a grassroots coalition of taxpayers and small business groups. It is opposed by well-financed interests, including labor organizations, construction companies and other interests that make money from transportation projects.
The debate over Prop. 6 is centered on California’s high cost of living, a primary component of which is our tax burden. California already had the seventh-highest gas taxes in the nation before the tax increase. Our state income tax rates and state sales tax rate are among the nation’s highest. Add to that crushing regulations and counterproductive polices that result in outcomes opposite of what was intended.
Residents of San Francisco are acutely aware of how expensive it is to live here relative to other locales. Despite a rapidly growing national economy, many citizens here still feel left behind, and for good reason. California’s poverty rate is 20.6 percent, the highest in the nation, when the cost of living is taken into account.
Opponents of Prop. 6 understate the impact on the cost of living that results from the tax increases that the measure seeks to reverse. A recent study by the California Policy Center, a think tank that works to promote conservative policies, shows just how punishing last year’s tax increases are for middle-class Californians and why they should be repealed.
According to the center’s analysis, the gas tax and car tax hikes will impose on an average two-car family at least $1,500 in taxes a year. When adjusting for the “average” tax rate, a two-car “average” family must earn almost $2,000 in pre-tax earnings just to pay their California car and gas taxes.
A typical two-car, low-income family may pay $1,800 in taxes a year. Because low-income families are in a lower tax bracket, that two-car lowincome family still must earn almost $2,000 in pre-tax earnings just to pay their California car and gas taxes.
While the study documents the direct tax and increased food costs from the gas and car tax increases, indirect cost-of-living increases will most certainly be felt as the cost of fuel and vehicle registration increases with these taxes and the additional costs are passed on by businesses to their customers in the form of higher prices.
The bottom line is that the cost-ofliving increases resulting from the new gas and car tax hikes will require sacrifices from working families. In fact, it almost wipes out what the average family spends during the holidays each year ($967.13) — according to the National Retail Federation.
Californians can prevent the taxraising Grinches from taking away what they would spend on the holidays by voting ‘yes’ on Prop. 6 to repeal the gas and car tax hikes.