10% sales tax? County signs on to a bill that would make that possible

BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer

San Mateo County will join a state bill to allow it to ask voters to raise its sales tax by a half-cent after the board voted 3-2 yesterday (May 5).

The vote supports legislation in Sacramento by Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, to raise the sales tax at some point over the next five years.

Supervisors Noelia Corzo and Ray Mueller voted no. Corzo said she has a long history of supporting tax measures in the county, but she isn’t comfortable supporting something without an explicit plan or details.

“For me, it’s too open-ended and I don’t think it’s the right time to do this,” Corzo said.

An increase would bring the sales tax above 10% in most San Mateo County cities, including Belmont, East Palo Alto and Redwood City. The lowest tax rate would be 9.875% in cities such as San Carlos, Atherton and Menlo Park. The tax would also be on top of the county’s current half-cent sales tax, Measure K, which was approved in 2016.

Mueller “respectfully” voted no and did not explain why. But during a previous an interview with the Post, he said he is worried about the financial burden the sales tax increase would place on residents after the war in Iran, including higher gas prices.

“It simply gives our community ability to decide whether to protect essential services in face of ongoing fiscal pres-sures,” Supervisor Lisa Gauthier said.

The proposal was put forward by Supervisors Jackie Speier and Gauthier. It will allow cities and counties in the state to exceed the 9.25% sales tax cap.

Speier said there was a possibility the county would need the sales tax increase to help the county’s budget amid an anticipated shortfall in the portion of car tax money from the state. The county is anticipating losing about $120 million in funding. The county was expecting to receive $157 million this year. If voters were to approve a tax, it could also create a welfare-like program to make living in the county more affordable, Speier said.

The county polled residents in February about a potential half-cent sales tax on the November ballot that would raise $114 million a year for childcare.

Speier said in an interview last week that the board won’t put the sales tax increase on the ballot “any time soon,” so the proposal will not compete with any other measure on the November ballot.