URBAN PERSPECTIVE - The operative word is "proposed" on new tax hikes says the Los Angeles City Council. If the council had been firm and said tax hikes will be on an upcoming ballot and the voters should approve them to avoid yet another fiscal Armageddon that city officials repeatedly warn of, then the operative phrase would be Earth to City Council.
The tax hike proposal would be worse than starry eyed dreaming coming at a time when the chances of winning the Powerball Lottery without buying a ticket is easier than getting voters to up taxes on themselves.
But it wouldn't be the first time that we'd have to beam messages up to a City Council that's beyond tone deaf to city resident's needs and wishes on taxes.
The two taxes proposed along with the fantasy about putting them to the voters for approval are textbook cases in point.
In a rare show of unity business and labor groups instantly banded together pounced on the proposals to up business related taxes and for more pension givebacks.
They got it right. The proposals would be yet another burdensome hit on business and would further gut pension protections given that unions have already made substantial concessions to the city on pension givebacks, and almost certainly will be asked to give more in the future.
When city officials get their inevitable tax hike thoughts that include roping the voters in on it, they again exhibit their horrible case of collective amnesia.
In years past, city officials screamed financial apocalypse if voters didn't approve tax hikes. And voters dutifully bought the pitch and approved the tax hikes.
But like so many things with politicians, there's no such thing as overreach. City officials just upped the ante with the now familiar chorus that the city is tens of millions in hock, and the only way out is radical spending slashes and, of course, big fees and tax hikes.
When this evokes the hue and cry of profligate, out of control spending, with little to no transparency, let alone accountability, about where (or more likely who) the money is going too, silence drops faster than the Hindenburg over City Hall. It's the same this time around.
We're told yet again that the city faces a quarter billion dollar shortfall next year. But yet again we're not told why, just pony up the cash, and don't ask any questions, as in the past.
This time it won't fly.
My guess is that with half the council up for reelection next year, they know it. Still the council being the council, why not give it a shot anyway. Earth to City Council.
(Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is the author of How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is host of the weekly Hutchinson Report Newsmaker Hour heard weekly on the nationally network broadcast Hutchinson Newsmaker Network. This article was posted first at insidesocal.com/friendlyfire/) –cw
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 68
Pub: Aug 24, 2012
