"Despite my efforts to stop it by referendum and legislation, the illegal fire tax is being assessed on more than 825,000 people starting this month", says Senator Ted Gaines."This so called fee was passed in 2011 to extract up to $150 per habitable structure from property owners.
The tax will not provide more fire protection and will make it harder for local fire agencies to raise the money they need to keep people safe.
It's a lose-lose- proposition for the people in my district and for anyone concerned with public safety and the rule of law.
The tax should have been subject to a 2/3 vote in the legislature just like every other tax but the Democrats called it a fee to get around that requirement.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association will file a lawsuit desputing the fee's legality and I hope it gets overturned ASAP.
Until that happens though, the State Board of Equalization (BOE) also plans to begin mailing an advance notice to the affected property owners to warn them with a borchure explaining the "fee".
No matter how many mailers or explanations or warnings any agency sends out, it doesn't make this tax any more right or more legal.
It was, is and always will be a shakedown of rural property owners that takes their money every single year but gives them zero in the way of additional fire safety.
The answer to fire protection in California is not bogus taxes, but budgets that invest in core government services that protect every citizen in the state - rural, urban or suburban.
My office will be watching this issue closely and will keep you updated on any new developments.
Visit CalFirefee.com to see if you live in a "State Responsiblility Area" and will be paying this tax. For questions regarding your bill, contact the BOE at 888-310-6447. For more information regarding the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association litigation contact 916-444-9950.
1 comment:
What rule of law? We live in an anarchist state. Under memo may we put FYA, so the state will know if you dislike their illegal molestation of each of us by reaching into our wallets contrary to the law or would that get us into trouble? To think Brown went to a seminary. What a PUTZ! HOORAY for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association!
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