Redondo Beach Utility User Tax, Measure A, March 2009
From Ballotpedia
A City of Redondo Beach Utility Users Tax, Measure A ballot proposition was on the March 3, 2009 ballot in Los Angeles, California for voters in Redondo Beach.
Measure A was approved.[1]
The proposition asked that the city's utility user tax (UUT) be extended to include additional forms of telecommunications; the tax rate itself is not increased in Measure A. The current UUT tax rate is 4.75%. Voter approval would be required for any future increase in the rate or the scope of services subject to the UUT.
Redondo Beach has had a UUT since 1969.
The ballot language is:
- An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Redondo Beach, California amending Chapter 9 of Title 8 of the Redondo Beach Municipal Code to modernize the utility users tax and to maintain the current tax rate.
Criticism of ballot description
David Kline, the communications director for Cal-Tax, said that the language on the ballot describing Measure A is misleading. "In several local elections, voters are being asked to approve tax increases, but the ballot descriptions are written to hide the tax and instead focus on services that most people support, like education and police protection. Examples of this misdirection are not hard to find. In Los Angeles County, there are several measures on the March 3 ballot that would expand the existing telephone tax (officially dubbed the "utility users' tax on telecommunications") to cell phones, text messaging, Voice over Internet Protocol and other forms of communication that aren't currently taxed. These measures would increase taxes for anyone who uses a cell phone, but they aren't identified as tax increases on the ballot!...In similar situations in Gardena and Redondo Beach, ballot descriptions ask if voters want to "update" the tax. Redondo Beach even worked the city's talking points into the measure's official ballot title, calling it the 'Vital Services Utility Users Tax Update Measure.'"[2]
See also
External links
- Text of Measure A
- City's analysis of Measure A
- Ballot book arguments for Measure A
- City's explanation of Measure A
References
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Returns across L.A. County show voters were in a revenue-raising mood", March 4, 2009
- ↑ Election Deception 2009: Ballot Descriptions Written to Influence Rather Than Inform
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