Seiler: Vote No on Measure HH, Fountain Valley sales tax increase

By John Seiler

“A Nice Place to Live,” Fountain Valley’s city motto, should be changed to “A High-Tax Place to Shop” if Measure HH passes this Nov. 8. It would increase the city’s sales tax rate to 9% from 8%, a 1 percentage point boost.

The city already benefits from massive sales-tax revenues from Costco, Sam’s Club and other retailers. And the incredible increase in property prices of recent years means the city is swimming in property-tax revenues — despite Proposition 13, because the property tax level still is reassessed whenever a home or business is sold.

According to Zillow, the median home price is a shocking $725,000, up 250% in just 2 decades.

The city claims the tax will be “temporary.” But how often have we seen these “temporary” taxes become permanent? On the same ballot, the “temporary” statewide Prop. 30 tax increase from 2012 now is on the ballot as an “extension,” Prop. 55, and almost certainly will be passed by brain-dead California voters.

Instead of a tax increase, the city should deal with budget shortfalls by cutting waste and inefficiencies. 

The City Council voted 4-1 to back the tax increase, with only Councilman Mark McCurdy dissenting. Bully for him!

The other councilmembers, should they still be on the council after the election, should be recalled.

California, especially Orange County, already is an incredibly expensive place to live. Haven’t the HH backers seen the homeless folks all over the place?

Making living here even more expensive just isn’t nice.