Battle over San Diego’s Measure A or ‘Empty Tax Proposal’
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (FOX5/KUSI) — It’s a rare day in San Diego city politics when two sitting council members of the same political party have dueling news conferences with completely different takes on the same issue.
In this case, the proposed new tax on second homes on the upcoming ballot called Measure A.
Raul Campillo is the only council member to vote against it.
“Now what does this mean. They will tell you this will help libraries and parks and housing. I’m here to tell you, none of that is going to happen”, says San Diego City Council member Raul Campillo.
If voters say yes to Measure A, the new tax would apply to homes that sit empty
for more than half the year. First year, $8000-dollars then going up to $10,000-dollars every year after.
The city hopes to raise between $9 and $20-million dollars every year.
As the theory goes, the new tax would be an incentive to put those homes on the long term rental market, allegedly creating more housing opportunities.
While there’s a lot of people saying a lot of different things about measure A-one thing is clear.
Any money raised will not be dedicated to housing solutions or rental assistance.
The reason this was put on the ballot is to help fill the budget deficit.
“Make no mistake. This will do nothing to create more housing as some people are saying. This is simply a new tax to help pay down the $100-million dollar structural deficit the city has created. Don’t be fooled, this is a tax measure disguised as a housing measure”, says
Mark Kersey of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association
While the No on A group is getting their message out, across town the Yes crowd also has something to say. Specifically about a recent political mailer sent out by a real estate group, claiming that veterans away on duty could be subject to the empty home tax.
That’s not the case says council member Sean Elo Rivera, who’s been the chief promotor of this new tax increase. “One mailer said active duty military will have to pay this tax while away on duty, that’s a lie. We wrote this measure to make sure that our active military will not be impacted by this”, says Elo-Rivera.
But more than 5000-home owners in San Diego would be affected, raising anywhere from $9 to-$20 million dollars a year for the city coffers. And like the mailer that was misleading
about the veterans, a judge previously ruled that the ballot language itself was ‘misleading’ as originally written. He forced the city attorney to change the language to be more accurate.
Sometimes in politics, it’s hard to the truth. But in this case, the truth is, veterans will not be subject to this tax.
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