League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	San Mateo County, CA June 5, 2012 Election
	Measure T Vehicle Business License Tax County of San Mateo Majority Approval Required Pass: 57,228 / 50.1% Yes votes ...... 57,038 / 49.9% No votes See Also: Index of all Measures

Arguments For Measure T

Arguments Against Measure T

The County of San Mateo provides a broad range of public safety, medical, and human services to over 720,000 residents. Unfortunately, the cost of providing these services is increasing, while state and federal support is dwindling. Due to the global economic downturn, many more local residents are in need, further stressing our safety net. To address these challenges, over the past six years San Mateo County has eliminated 500 positions, reduced departmental budgets, consolidated departments, closed county facilities, and negotiated reductions in labor costs to achieve over $70 million in ongoing savings. Despite this progress, San Mateo County continues to rely on reserves to balance our budget. Next year, San Mateo County will face another $28 million budget deficit, an amount that could exceed $50 million by 2017, even while utilizing reserves. To meet the needs of our communities, we must find new revenues while continuing to pursue cost-cutting efforts. One way to help close the budget gap is the measure before you, a 2.5% business license tax on gross receipts of operators of vehicle rental facilities in the unincorporated County area. This measure would raise roughly $7.75 million without significantly impacting the pocketbooks of County residents. The facilities subject to the tax generate over $300 million in revenue annually, largely from visitors to our County, but currently pay taxes of barely 1% of that to the County in which they operate. At the same time, the vehicles from these facilities generate pollution and add traffic to our roads which impacts our local infrastructure. It's time for San Mateo County to derive a reasonable benefit to offset these impacts. By voting YES for this measure, you are helping to ensure that San Mateo County will remain an enjoyable and prosperous place to live for many years to come. /s/ Adrienne J. Tissier, President, San Mateo County Board of Supervisors /s/ Carole Groom, Supervisor, San Mateo County /s/ Anne E. Campbell, San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools /s/ Lennie Roberts, Environmental Advocate /s/ James P. Fox, Retired District Attorney Rebuttal to Arguments For The proponents of this new car tax claim that it will "raise roughly $7.75 million without significantly impacting the pocketbooks of County residents." Think again. This new car tax will significantly impact the pocketbooks of San Mateo County. Hurts Our Local Economy. Here's how: San Mateo County gets more than 10,000 direct jobs from the San Francisco Airport - far more than any other county. Tourism, hospitality, and entertainment are critical parts of our local economy - providing 67,000 jobs and more than $8 billion dollars. This new car tax on rental cars will hurt one of the core components of this center of job creation. A Poorly Written Law. There is no end date on this new tax - it goes on forever - without any mandatory evaluation of its impact on the economy or lf how the money is being spent. Politicians Can Spend It Any Way They Want - No Money is Guaranteed for Police, Fire, or Schools When considering this new car tax, it's important to look at the fine print. Supporters say it will help the county to support essential services but the money will go into the general fund to be spent in any way these politicians desire. There is no requirement that this money be spent on essential services like police, fire, or schools. Vote No on Measure T. This new car tax is poorly written and will hurt our local economy. /s/ Daniel Varela, Teamsters Local 853 Business Agent /s/ Michelle Rosas, Small Business Owner /s/ John Roeder, President, Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association /s/ Kelly Hunt, Regional Vice-President, Enterprise Rent-a-Car Company of San Francisco /s/ Jim McGuire, Best Western Grosvenor General Manager

Remember the car tax? Well, they're at it again wanting to pass a new car tax - only this time on rental cars. We urge you to look carefully at this new car tax and consider how it will affect our county. Hurts Our Economy Tourism, hospitality, and entertainment are critical components of the Bay Area economy - providing 67,000 jobs and more than $8 billion. This new car tax on rental cars will hit those industries hard and hurt the economy of San Mateo County and the entire Bay Area. Do We Need a New Tax in Tough Times? We're still stuck in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Gas prices are reaching all-time highs and local families are struggling to make ends meet. Now is the not the time to pass new tax measures. An Eternal Tax Hike There is no end date on this new tax - it goes on forever - without any mandatory evaluation of its impact or of how the money is being spent. Politicians Can Spend It Any Way They Want - No Money is Guaranteed for Police, Fire, or Schools When considering this new car tax, it's important to look at the fine print. Supporters say it will help the county support essential services but the money will go into the general fund to be spent in any way these politicians desire. There is no requirement that this money be spent on essential services like police, fire, or schools. The money raised by this new car tax has no limits on the way it can be spent. Arbitrary Levies This law also requires our local businesses to pay this car tax as often as the County Tax Collector likes. This is the wrong tax for San Mateo County. /s/ Michelle Rosas, Small Business Owner /s/ Jim McGuire, Best Western Grosvenor General Manager /s/ Juan Dominguez, Manager at a small business /s/ Kelly Hunt, Regional Vice-President, Enterprise Rent-a-Car Company of San Francisco /s/ Clifton Clark, SF Airport Marriott General Manager Rebuttal to Arguments Against Measure T has nothing to do with taxing personal vehicles of San Mateo County residents but will instead levy a small fee on car rental facilities in and around SFO. Those organizing opposition to this measure are not from San Mateo County and have no vested interest in the local services this fee will support. Despite the opponents' claim of challenging economic times, business at SFO has almost never been better. In fact, according to recent reports, the airport has seen sustained growth for eight successive years. In 2011, SFO's passenger count was 41.0 million, a 4.2% increase over 2010 and just shy of its all-time record high of 41.1 million passengers set in 2000. In addition, the City of San Francisco, due to its ownership of SFO, reaps approximately $46 million a year from vehicle rental facilities around the airport while San Mateo County derives pennies in comparison. All of the revenue derived from this measure will support existing services provided by San Mateo County, as required by law, including a broad range of health and human services, the county hospital, public safety services as well as county parks and libraries. Don't be fooled by out of town interests. San Mateo County residents must contend with all of the traffic and pollution caused by vehicles transiting through our county to and from these facilities. This measure simply allows local residents to derive a modest benefit in return. Vote YES for San Mateo County by voting YES on Measure T. /s/ Adrienne J. Tissier, President, San Mateo County Board of Supervisors /s/ Anne E. Campbell, San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools /s/ Dave Pine, San Mateo County Supervisor /s/ Michael D. Nevin, Executive Director /s/ Julia Bott, San Mateo County Parks Foundation Executive Director

Full Text of Measure T

https://www.shapethefuture.org/elections/2012/june/documents/Business%20License%20Tax%20-ResolutionMeasure%20questionFull%20Text.pdf