Hike Taxes to Help the Homeless? | The American Spectator

Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty seeks an increase in the property transfer tax, imposed every time a home is sold, to help “unsheltered people” in the California capital. The increase would only apply to homes selling for more than $1 million, and the mayor estimates it would raise $8-9 million.

“We think having a fair adjustment is something that we can put before the voters,” McCarty told reporters. As voters and taxpayers might note, the city and state have indulged in lavish spending on the unsheltered. (RELATED: Gavin Newsom Cannot Escape His Embarrassing Legacy on Homelessness)

Since 2019-20, California has provided about $37 billion in funding for housing- and homelessness-related programs, according to the state’s nonpartisan legislative analyst. “Sacramento has provided tiny homes, renovated hotels, RV trailers, most of which sit empty,” notes California Globe editor Katy Grimes, a Sacramento resident. The streets of California’s capital still jostle with drug addicts who “don’t want housing or treatment.” That marks a contrast to those who might be called the state’s true homeless population. (RELATED: Will California Go Forward or Backward on Homelessness?)

Earlier this year, fires destroyed more than 11,000 homes in the Los Angeles area. As of this week, according to a California government website, Los Angeles County has received 2,306 applications for rebuilding permits, reviewed 1751 applications, and issued  636 permits. The city of Los Angeles received 2002 applications, reviewed 921, and issued 859 building permits.

The city of Malibu received 169 applications, with 97 in review and only 7 permits issued. The 45 applications in Pasadena generated 31 reviews, and the city issued 12 permits. If fire victims thought that was too few permits granted, it would be hard to blame them. “LA’s recovery is Governor Newsom’s top priority,” claims the website, which does not quantify homes successfully rebuilt and again occupied by the owners.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, overseas when the fires started, has faced criticism for the city’s poor preparation. Despite the mayor’s claims of decreasing numbers, this year’s homeless count in Los Angeles runs to more than 75,000, with more than six unhoused people dying every day on the streets and in shelters. The mayor has not proposed an increase in the city’s real estate transfer tax, but she does have a history with tax issues as speaker of the California Assembly from 2008-2010.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger set up the Commission on the 21st Century Economy (COTCE), which recommended cutting tax brackets to two and replacing the corporation and state sales tax with a 4 percent tax on business activity. Speaker Bass failed to bring the recommendations to a vote, leaving a volatile system in place and giving no relief to working families.

Recurring governor Jerry Brown and current governor Gavin Newsom show little if any interest in tax reform. California’s ruling class regards punitive taxes as the solution to just about everything. Calling a tax hike an “adjustment,” in the style of Mayor McCarty, does not change the reality.

The proposal comes in a city that last year, according to the Sacramento Bee, paid city manager Howard Chan $789,000. That is nearly twice as much as the $400,000 salary of the president of the United States, and more than three times Gov. Newsom’s salary of $242,295. So the problem isn’t a lack of money.

As Christopher Calton notes, solving homelessness requires more than just housing. Solving homelessness in the Golden State will require transformative solutions. As C.S. Lewis might say, these solutions have not been tried and found wanting. They have been found difficult and left untried. Homeowners, taxpayers, and the unsheltered deserve better.

READ MORE from Lloyd Billingsley:

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Lloyd Billingsley is a policy fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif.