The following articles by Ruth Gottstein have been published in the Upcountry News.
#1
THE STATE
LEGISLATURE PASSES A CYNICAL FIRE FIGHTING FEE STARTING SEPT. 1, 2011
I have had great
difficulty writing this column because I am so angry...and therefore have
postponed it until I was up against my publishing deadline...amd I am
still angry.
The issue I am
addressing is one of the most cynical pieces of legislation I have ever
witnessed, and I am 89 years old, a lifelong registered Democrat. In my
opinion, what I am about to describe was passed because those voters
living in rural, eastern California areas are mainly
Republicans, and therefore, there would be little political fallout as a
result to the legislators supporting the governor's budget.
So what's the
issue? The governor has called for "...a new, $150
annual state fire protection fee for rural areas." Under a plan
approved by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (which is the
state board responsible for rural areas), CalFire will be authorized to
charge upward of $90 annual fire prevention fees
to the estimated 850,000 rural residents living in
these "state responsibility areas". This is scheduled
to take effect on Sept. 1, 2011. The fact that no one knows better about
our fire dangers than we who actually live here is seemingly unknown
even to our local legislators. Over generations dating back to the Gold
Rush, we have created multiple fire districts with paid staffs
and volunteer fire fighting organizations, and have voted to pass special
sales taxes to fight fires, as in Amador county's Measure M. How is it possible
that the legislature was either unaware of our own ongoing fire fighting
programs--or just didn't care?
Yes, some of California's general
taxes do apply to our "state
responsibility" areas. But state taxes are never applied
evenly. For example, if that were the case, there would be toll
booths along the freeways to tax those drivers who actually use them
daily. We who live in remote, rural counties rarely
ride them. Perhaps in our "naiveté", it doesn't occur to
us that therefore some of the money we pay for state taxes should not
be spent on maintaining and developing freeways.
I perceive
this fire fighting issue as one of cowardice--the legislature is going
after the most vulnerable citizens--easy pickings. I haven't read anything
about the legislature asking the federal government to increase fire
protection funding for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land which
surrounds us. Or, asking Sierra Pacific Properties--the second largest
landowner in the United
States--to come up with fire fighting funds
for their land which is also surrounds us. The legislature obviously
knows these attempts would be futile.
Easy way out,
legislature?
__________________
#2
The state of California is being
"Balkanized." Whatever do I mean by that? Well, if you
look up the term in Wikipedia, you will read "...a geopolitical term, one
used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a state into
smaller regions or states, that are often hostile or non-cooperative with each
other." And therein, you have a perfect description of the fire tax
(AB29X) which has been imposed on rural counties throughout the state by
the urban-based California legislature.
The California Board of Forestry & Fire Protection is responsible for the
adoption of permanent regulations regarding the State Responsibility Area Fire
Fee (SRA). I am not going to write further about the history of how the tax was
imposed (even if in its cowardice the legislature called it a "fee"
because it would not have been legal to impose a "tax") --except to say
that as of 10/12/12, $16 million dollars has already been collected--and that's
not counting the anticipated revenue from counties following
Plumas (the collection is being made alphabetically by
counties). The state legislature expects to raise about $85 million
annually from the tax from more than 846,000 homeowners who live within
more than 31 million acres of "state responsibility areas". The
whole issue of fire prevention services that already exist in this
huge area--some even dating back to the Gold Rush--has been totally
ignored.
But back
to the legislature. Its power is vested in urban votes, giving it the
right to make decisions for the entire state--and no state has greater
power--and diversity--than California.
Forgive me for going into the following statistics, because they are the key to
"Balkanization." We are the third largest U.S. state in
square miles, and we have the highest population and GDP of any other
state. At the same time, we are incredibly diverse, when you think in terms of
deserts and mountains, farms and cities, suburbia and coasts. We are
the number one state for food production--on a global level, we are the fifth
largest food provider in the world.
At the same
time, California
citizens are experiencing the same poverty which is happening all over the
country. According to a recent census, one of six Californians is living
in poverty. How can those of us rural folks living with that
economic reality come up with the sudden tax with big penalties, because
an urban legislature told us we had to?
Sadly, it's my
opinion that this "Balkanization" of California is just beginning. If you
want to see it changing elsewhere, watch the news for Scotland (and perhaps Ireland)
as they prepare to leave England
after hundreds of years.
__________________
# 3
As faithful
readers of my column know, I have been writing about the unbelievable fire
"fee" (about which the governor has not ruled out revising the tax
structure--and changing the way people are taxed...thereby turning the
"fee" into a "tax" and transferring it
to the general fund). Why would he do this? To block a law
suit challenging the legality of the fire fee, which is going to be brought by
Howard Jarvis.
What are the
financial stakes? As of this writing on Nov. 21, according to the Fire
Fee Weekly Report from the State Board of Equalization, the money already
collected amounts to nearly $35 million dollars. To clearly
understand the significance, that money has come in from counties which have
already been alphabetically billed. Currently being billed is Santa Cruz county, and after that the following
counties will be billed--Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Stanislaus, Tehama,
Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura, Yolo and Yuba. And, this money
is being collected from people, one of six according to current census reports,
are living in poverty.
The
annual tax will be billed to you again in 2013. Enough said--I
have not heard of any significant pushback, and as your faithful columnist, I
know when to give up on a subject. If you want to see my already
published October column on the fire tax in which I characterize this kind
of extraordinary financial discrimination as "Balkanization of
California"--let me know.
This is going to
be a short column. It's already past my publishing deadline, and now
I head to the kitchen to prepare the stuffing for the turkey to be served
tomorrow to a wonderful family. Two sons, four grandkids with assorted
spouses and "others", three great grandkids, not to mention a
daughter-in-law out of the country at this moment, and a dear friend.
I hope your
Thanksgiving in any form or number or location was good for you, and for us
all.
Ruth Gottstein
