Post by Logan on Feb 9, 2016 0:57:09 GMT -6
Children are a worthy cause, but Sacramento tax measure is flawed
No doubt, the city should be doing better by Sacramento’s 120,000 children and youths, nearly a third of whom are poor.
But a proposed ballot measure to fund children’s programs by taxing marijuana cultivation is badly flawed – so much so that the City Council should vote Tuesday night against putting it before voters on June 7.
The measure calls for exempting marijuana cultivation and manufacturing from the city’s 4 percent business operations tax and levying a new 5 percent tax that would raise an estimated $5 million a year. After as much as 15 percent goes for administration and evaluation, at least 70 percent of the remainder would go to community nonprofits and as much as 30 percent would go to city departments. Services funded could include early childhood education, after-school and summer programs, sports and arts, job training and employment, and anti-violence and gang prevention programs.
If the council does put this before the electorate, it requires two-thirds of the votes cast for passage.
Read more here: www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article59201178.html
No doubt, the city should be doing better by Sacramento’s 120,000 children and youths, nearly a third of whom are poor.
But a proposed ballot measure to fund children’s programs by taxing marijuana cultivation is badly flawed – so much so that the City Council should vote Tuesday night against putting it before voters on June 7.
The measure calls for exempting marijuana cultivation and manufacturing from the city’s 4 percent business operations tax and levying a new 5 percent tax that would raise an estimated $5 million a year. After as much as 15 percent goes for administration and evaluation, at least 70 percent of the remainder would go to community nonprofits and as much as 30 percent would go to city departments. Services funded could include early childhood education, after-school and summer programs, sports and arts, job training and employment, and anti-violence and gang prevention programs.
If the council does put this before the electorate, it requires two-thirds of the votes cast for passage.
Read more here: www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article59201178.html