The Cupertino Courier

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Measure A tax benefits health, commuters

By JASON GOLDMAN-HALL

A half-cent tax increase on every dollar spent may not seem like much of a new funding source, but multiplied by dollars spent each day by the more than 1.7 million residents of Santa Clara County--not counting visitors--it can become a major source of revenue for local improvements.

Supporters of Measure A--the June ballot item that could raise Santa Clara County's sales tax from 8.25 percent to 8.75 percent--say the money generated will fund health care and transportation improvements around the South Bay. The increase will make Santa Clara County tie with Alameda County and select cities for the highest sales tax in the state.

By comparison, San Mateo County has an 8.25 percent tax.

Measure A has been criticized because many of the large businesses that support it are also pushing to be exempted from sales tax on equipment purchases. Critics of Measure A say that businesses are trying to reduce their own tax loss while increasing the general public's.

According to the language of the measure, funds raised by the increase--which some say could be as high as $150 million to $180 million annually--would help the Valley Transit Authority make transportation improvements and would also fund county health care services. The money would, in theory, be split evenly between health and transportation concerns.

The funds are not specifically earmarked for various agencies because a specific tax would require approval by two-thirds of the voters on June 6. The way the measure is worded makes it a general tax, which requires only a majority vote. Because of this, the measure calls for the creation of watchdog groups to monitor how the county board of supervisors uses the money.

Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Suzi Blackman said the vague language of the measure is alarming, because it leaves more room for abuse if watchdog groups do not perform as they are tasked.

This is also not the first time a Measure A has been proposed to increase tax.

In 2000, more than 70 percent of Santa Clara County voters approved a different Measure A that extended a then-expiring half-cent increase to fund VTA improvements. While it succeeded in some areas, the measure was never able to realize its full potential.

"Since that measure was approved, however, the valley underwent a recession, and the sales tax revenues were not enough to support the projects," said Dean Chu, Sunnyvale city councilman and VTA board vice chair.

One unfinished project is a proposed rapid transit bus line running from Moffett Park in Sunnyvale to De Anza College in Cupertino. Sunnyvale has one rapid bus line running down El Camino Real. The new Measure A would provide funds to create that bus line, and improve other road conditions in Sunnyvale.

That line runs right along Sunnyvale Auto Row, Sunnyvale's largest generator of sales-tax revenue and one of the places the proposed increase would be felt the most.

"A half-cent sales tax doesn't sound like a lot, unless you're selling a $30,000 car," Blackman said.

Some owners believe the $150 increase on a $30,000 car will drive business to neighboring counties.

"If it's more expensive to buy in our market than it is to go elsewhere, people are going to do that," said Toyota Sunnyvale owner Adam Simms.

But supporters of Measure A say the benefits outweigh the possible economic losses.

"You can't get anything free, so if people want these things, this measure is the best way to do it," said Bob Brownstein, a spokesman for the Pro-Measure A group Citizens for Health Care, Transportation and Local Accountability.