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Opinion Governor’s fire tax is unfair to rural taxpayers
Governor’s fire tax is unfair to rural taxpayers
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By Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen
Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed a measure that directs the state to collect a tax up to $150 per structure on buildings located in “State Responsibility Areas.” These areas are located primarily in rural and unincorporated parts of the state, like much of my district. The State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection will be meeting this month to adopt regulations to implement the tax. The new fire tax applies to potentially more than 800,000 structures in the 31 million acres where the state has the main firefighting responsibility.
The Governor and the legislative Democrats who voted for this tax said that it is needed to help protect public safety. They also said that those who choose to live in high-risk areas need to pay the costs of living there — that it was unfair to have other residents subsidize their firefighting costs.
But neither of these arguments are accurate. First, the new revenues that the fire tax will generate will not boost existing firefighting resources. The tax money will only replace a portion of the dollars that the Legislature seized from the state firefighting budget to pay for entitlement programs whose costs are spiraling out of control. Essentially, rural homeowners will be paying a new tax to support health and welfare programs.
Second, in many communities, homeowners already pay additional property taxes approved by local voters to pay for fire protection. For example, half of the landowners on Calaveras County’s non-federal lands already pay a tax for a local fire protection district that is covered by state firefighters. This means some communities will be paying twice for the same level of fire service.
Not only is this new tax unfair to taxpayers, but it is unnecessary. In May, my Assembly Republican colleagues and I released a budget roadmap that would protect essential services such as firefighting without higher taxes. We proposed savings in other areas to cut spending, but our ideas were rejected.
Fortunately, the new fire tax is legally questionable as Democrats call it a fee. The voters approved Proposition 26 last year to require new fees that benefit the public broadly to pass by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature or by local voters. The fire tax is clearly an attempt to undermine the will of the people since it was passed on only a simple majority vote.
Californians are appropriately outraged and they may have their chance to end this illegal tax. A referendum, initiated by Senator Ted Gaines (R-Roseville), was cleared for circulation this week. If enough signatures are collected, Californians will have the opportunity to vote to overturn the fire tax on the ballot. Additionally, taxpayer protection groups are considering filing a lawsuit to fight this illegally passed tax in court. I will do everything I can to support these efforts and help overturn this unfair tax.
Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, R-Modesto, represents California’s 25th Assembly District which includes Tuolumne and Calaveras counties.
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