When there’s money and power on the line, people will go to great lengths to cheat their way to victory.
Such is the case with Measure A, which this editorial board has already endorsed against.
A recent mailer in English and Spanish from the Measure A campaign goes to great lengths to say various things Measure A might accomplish:
“support Measure A it removes encampments and helps move people from tents into treatment.”
“it immediately removes encampments and helps move people with serious issues into treatment, so that the firefighters and paramedics can do their jobs and help people in fires or accidents.”
“Measure A will hold programs accountable to actually reduce homelessness, by requiring annual audits and by taking funding away from programs that are not working.”
“Moving homeless people with mental illness into care is the top priority.”
“If Measure A does not pass, current homelessness funding will expire.”
“Safer neighborhoods. Better care for those in need.”
The curious thing about all of these lines, as nice and even agreeable as they might be, is that none of them mention that Measure A is a tax increase. A big one. A regressive one.
Measure A seeks to double the sales tax measure (Measure H) voters approved in 2017. This sales tax, the burden of which will fall heavily on lower-income Angelenos, will be permanent and without a sunset date. Measure H’s tax increase had a 10 year sunset, meaning that after 10 years it would expire, which is helpful because that gives voters a chance to evaluate whether the tax was actually accomplishing what proponents said it would accomplish.
Measure A, by contrast, seeks to raise taxes on Angelenos by hundreds of millions of dollars per year in perpetuity.
Notice how that wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the Measure A mailer. Nor was it mentioned in suspect mailers from one of Measure A’s biggest backers, the United Way of Greater Los Angeles. Measure A proponents don’t want voters to realize that Measure A is a massive tax increase that will be imposed on the poorest of Angelenos as much as the wealthiest.
Why might that be?
For one, Measure A supporters fear that voters might not be in the mood for raising taxes on themselves.
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Second, many of Measure A supporters have a lot to gain.
The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, has issued statements declaring that Measure A is really about jobs. “Measure A will create more pathways to good union jobs with targeted local hiring – bringing opportunities for upward mobility & economic stability for those in LA County who need it the most,” a recent tweet states. “Measure A will also bring labor protections to workers on the frontlines – those providing mental health care & services to our most vulnerable communities – ensuring that their jobs are good union jobs with living wages.”
Again, notice the omission of any mention of either homelessness or that it is a tax increase.
There’s a reason for this, too. Measure A was written with explicit handouts to Big Labor. Union labor, subsidized by you the taxpayer, will get the priority on projects built ostensibly in the name of fighting homelessness. Which, as history shows, means these projects will be built at a much higher cost than they otherwise would be.
Measure A is pure and simple theft. We can only hope the voters of Los Angeles County reject this cynical measure.