SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Every time you go out to lunch, buy an item of clothing, or get a new car, you’re charged a sales tax. Each city has a different sales tax, but the minimum is 7.75% across the county. Measure G wants to raise that to 8.25. Haney Hong at the San Diego Taxpayers Association is against it.
“It’s a very long document with very specific projects where all the money’s supposed to go,” Hong said.
A majority of the money would go to improving public transportation. This includes building a rail connection to the San Diego Airport and creating a new line from the South Bay to Kearny Mesa. It also has funding for highway maintenance and bridge safety repairs.
“It’s really not fair to voters to ask them to decide everything that gets money and everything that doesn’t,” Hong said.
Hong says it should be up to SANDAG to determine which transit projects get funding, not the voters.
“Why do we have a SANDAG staff and board? Why do we have other people that are supposed to make these decisions,” Hong said.
Carolina Martinez works with the environmental health coalition, one of many climate and labor groups that campaigned to put Measure G on the ballot. She says the projects under Measure G were chosen by their own team of experts and later by San Diegans.
“Over 100,000 citizens in San Diego County said we need this urgently. They are the voice bringing this forward,” Martinez said.
Martinez claims it will be better for the environment and voters’ bank accounts.
“The system we have in place right now is forcing us to drive, so think about the car payments, registration fee, gas, oil changes, all that is very expensive,” Martinez said.
Measure G does not have a sunset clause and will remain in effect until voters end it. It’s also a citizen's initiative, requiring 51% of votes to pass.
