CoCoTax welcomes apparent defeat of Measure B sales tax, Measure G bond issue
By Contra Costa Taxpayers Association
The latest election results show Contra Costa Measure B trailing with less than 43% of the vote in favor. A relatively small number of late arriving votes are unlikely to change the outcome, given the 36,562-vote gap between the NO and YES totals. Measure G is also likely to fail.
Measure B would have raised sales taxes by 0.625% around the county, would have cost consumers more than $750 million during its five-year life, and would have pushed total sales tax rates over 10% in most of the County. Measure G was yet a fourth bond measure for the county colleges, adding to our indebtedness and long-term payment of interest. The bond measures appear not to have ever been enough and with falling student numbers, huge investments make no sense.
As the official ballot opponent to Measure B, Contra Costa Taxpayers Association (CoCoTax) showed voters the deceptiveness of the proponents’ case, which included exaggerated claims about Medi-Cal funding losses, alarmism over emergency room overcrowding, and the false assertion that the tax did not apply to groceries (prepared foods, OTC medications, and non-food groceries would have been subject to the tax). For Measure G, we showed the math behind it and how the only people looking to support it with money were unions whose contracts expire this month. The unions also planned to take advantage of Measure B funds.
CoCoTax rallied volunteers to get the message out with signage, verbal appeals, videos, text messages and more. The organization made its first set of campaign finance expenditures, reporting approximately $20,000 of independent expenditures to the County’s campaign finance system. This spending paled in comparison to the $450,000 raised by the Yes on B campaign, mostly from unions seeking to maximize dues revenue.
Denise Kalm, a CoCoTax Executive Committee who agreed to serve as the group’s President Pro Tem this Spring led the successful effort against Measures B and G.
Reacting to the results, Kalm said, “Measure B would have given the Board of Supervisors another big infusion of cash; they already had burdened us in 2020 with Measure X and haven’t even found ways to spend/waste it all. And yet, they came back with a 0.625% increase in sales tax demand, purportedly to fix the healthcare shortfall they claim President Trump caused. None of it was true; none of their math added up.“
Though CoCoTax initially started only going after B, we made an effort to get G to fail, which worked.
CoCoTax welcomes more Contra Costa residents to join us and volunteer. We’re expecting many tax and bond measures in November and then again in 2028. While some may be reasonable, others, like the regional transit tax, require informed and active opposition. Neighbors who want to join us in “Fighting for Good Government at Affordable Cost in Contra Costa,” are encouraged to check out our website at https://www.cocotax.org.
the attachments to this post:
CoCoTax B & G cover
