by Jack
PS EXCLUSIVE STORY
After much deliberation the Butte Taxpayers Alliance (BTA) has decided they will oppose the pending city sales tax hike and the cell phone tax. These taxes would only affect the City of Chico making it cheaper to shop elsewhere and this has the BTA up in arms. The sales tax increase hinges on the results from polling currently being done. However, if these two projects are headed for the ballot then the BTA has declared it will strongly oppose them.
If the City of Chico decides the polling favors a tax hike they can move for a council vote (5-2 vote is expected) to put it on the ballot or they can circulated a petition and if they can collect 10,000 signatures that will also place it on the ballot. It’s hoped that the proposed cell phone tax will be canceled by the FCC who controls such things.
According to the Chair of the BTA, Laurel Tower, “The questions before us, is this cell phone tax even legal? Would the FCC prohibit such a tax? Regarding the sales tax increase, we believe this would be counterproductive to creating jobs and growing the local economy. This higher sales tax would place Chico at a significant disadvantage with competing communities, therefore we would absolutely oppose it.”
The Butte County Taxpayers Alliance is a non-partisan, citizens watchdog group, that seeks to promote good government by educating the public on important issues. You can find more information on them by CLICKING HERE.
Good to hear.
The Chico Taxpayers Association had invited Lando to present and explain his sales tax increase proposal in a public forum, but has been ignored. The script being used by the survey company Lando hired is bias and leading. I have a copy.
Also, we’re looking into possible ethics violations, as Lando is on a sliding scale pension (former city employee) and is advising the city to raise taxes, directly to his benefit. His engineering company, Lando and Associates, stands to profit with the building projects proposed as well.
Chico Taxpayers Association general public meeting 1st Sunday every month, Chico library at 11:30. Assemblyman Neilson to be Guest Tax-fighter in April.
thanks Jack, I think a concerted opposition is what we need, the sooner the better.
Just to remind everyone, the City of Chico also paid for Lando’s PHd from USC which he then used to teach classes at Chico State. He retired a few years after getting it.
Nice use of our money.
You betcha, you and Casey need some backup! We have to stop this stupid tax that Chico businesses hate.
We’ve needed an organization like the BTA for a long time. I hope folks will step up to support them and this includes our business community. A lot of money will be needed to buy ads and do community outreach to educate voters on the issues.