L.A. tax measures could be a tough sell on Nov. 4
With so much economic uncertainty, voters are telling politicians they're unsure they can handle an additional financial burden.
With rising unemployment, falling home values and a sinking stock market, four Los Angeles city and county tax increases on the Nov. 4 ballot have become a tougher sell than some of their backers envisioned a few months ago.
Leaders of Los Angeles' K-12 schools, community colleges, city government and transportation authority each placed tax hikes on the ballot to take advantage of the high number of Democrats expected to vote for presidential candidate Barack Obama.
But with so much economic uncertainty, the business leaders who typically bankroll local tax increases have been donating much smaller sums than in previous years -- if they gave at all. And voters have been telling politicians that they are unsure they can handle an additional financial burden.
"We're certainly hearing from a lot of people that they're nervous about the economy," said Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who is pushing Proposition A, a citywide property tax to pay for anti-gang programs. "They're nervous about whether or not they're even going to be able to hang on to their homes, and property taxes add to that anxiety."
Worried about the recent financial crisis, the Proposition A campaign commissioned an opinion poll last week that shows support for the measure hovering at the two-thirds needed for passage. But to reassure jittery voters, Hahn has begun selling her measure -- which would cost $3 a month per property -- as a bargain, particularly when compared with the $7-billion bond measure sought by the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Meanwhile, officials with the Los Angeles Community College District have been positioning Measure J, their $3.5-billion facilities bond, as a life raft in a stormy economy. Larry Eisenberg, the district's executive director for facilities planning and development, said anxious and unemployed workers turn to the community college system when they need retraining -- and will keep that in mind once they enter the voting booth.
"We've experienced an 11% increase in enrollment this year, and we think that's directly related to the economy," he said. "When the economy goes down, people think they may need to look for something else, and the colleges are where they retool."
Such arguments do not persuade Kris Vosburgh, executive director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., who specifically cited the economy in his ballot arguments against both the community college measure and the anti-gang tax.
