At first appearance the State of Jefferson proposal looks and sounds good. With smaller government and lower taxes, what could go wrong? Upon further analysis, the answer is plenty.
SOJ’s mantra of lower taxes is highly misleading. In 2013, Sierra County per capita income tax was $433.00 (2.7% tax rate) for a total of $1,336,000. The Jefferson Financial viability model proposes to increase that amount to $8,569,000 (641% increase!) Their proposal also states that corporations would not pay taxes. That leaves individuals and small businesses to absorb a $7,233,000 increase in income taxes.
Further, the SOJ proposal would have a devastating effect on our schools. The 2014/2015 school budget (County and district combined) was $7,476,000 of which $3,817,000 came from the State of California. If the State of Jefferson proposal succeeds, we will lose 51% of our budget. This would devastate our schools. How could we possibly make up for that loss?
In addition to the schools losing $3,817,000 in funding, the County of Sierra would lose almost $11,500,000 from the state. A loss of $15,317,000 state income would be devastating to our county.
My conclusion is that the SOJ proposal is not a viable option for Sierra County.
NOTE: It is a misconception that Sierra County property tax is collected and sent to the state. ALL property tax collected in Sierra County STAYS in Sierra County.
Mike Moore, Loyalton
