My goodness, talk about a parcel tax increase sneaking up on you. This parcel tax increase on Measure I came out of nowhere and is on the ballot November 6, 2012.
Measure I on the November ballot would raise money for community colleges. It will raise $5.6 million annually each year for a six-year period, or $33.6 million.
Measure I is for Chabot-Las Positas Community College District. All property owners from Hayward on the west to Livermore on the east are subject to a tax levy on each of the approximately 200,000 parcels in the district.
The exact amount for each parcel has yet to be determined. The measure will require two-thirds vote for passage. Surveys conducted by a consultant showed that 70 percent of the public would vote for the measure.
And yet another measure, Proposition 38, which was placed on the ballot by a campaign backed by wealth attorney Mooly Munger, would raise taxes for K-12 education, but not for community colleges.
If both measures pass, the one with the highest number of votes wins. There are no exemptions, all parcel owners would be obliged to pay the tax. Senior citizens and people on disability SSI would not be exempted.
Then there is Gov. Jerry Brown's Proposition 30, which is a massive tax increase for everyone. You do not have to live in California to pay up on this tax. Anyone passing through California will pay tax under Proposition 30.
Pleasanton voters turned down a parcel tax measure two years ago that was put on the ballot by Pleasanton Unified School District. The PUSD hired a consultant for that measure. The consultant said a survey indicated the measure would pass.
