This is a letter to the editor I submitted to the San Mateo Daily Journal. Since Election Day is rapidly approaching, I’m publishing it here in case their queue is full for days.

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I see San Carlos’ Yes on Measure G campaign is arguing we need to raise our sales tax to cover the State’s failure to pay out the vehicle license fee monies we’re owed.

It’s not a compelling argument. Sacramento has agreed to correct the mistake (although they haven’t done it yet). Kudos to all the electeds, at the local and county level, who stood up and demanded the State fulfill the promise it made many years ago. San Mateo County residents shouldn’t be punished simply because more of their public school funding comes from local property taxes.

It’s also a self-defeating argument. The State won’t pay what it should, so you cover the shortfall by raising local taxes? How does that motivate Sacramento to fix the broken legislation? They might just say “thank you very much!” and keep withholding funds!