Written by Vincent Cain
On Tuesday, Residents of San Diego gathered to learn more about SANDAG’s proposed mileage and sales tax.
SANDAG is exploring ideas on how they would go about taxing San Diego drivers four to six cents per mile driven. Some organizations are fighting back against this proposal, such as Reform California.
While many are unaware of this proposed tax, it would contribute to the already massive problem of over-taxation in San Diego and California in general, which has the highest gas tax in the country along with the highest car tax and a special sales tax surcharge.
It is estimated by chairman Carl DeMaio, that if you drive around 15,000 miles in a year, it would cost about $600 to $900 per vehicle. Of course, many people drive far more than this so the price could be as high as a few thousand dollars.
On December 10th, SANDAG is expected to vote on this road usage tax. With all of this going on, it is becoming clear that their agenda includes eliminating the general public’s car usage through high taxes.
They want to make it so expensive to drive that no one can afford it. They are trying to make the only form of transportation available to come from the government. Supervisor Jim Desmond highlighted SANDAG’s plan was designed to change citizen’s transportation behavior. Their end goals take precedent over everything else, including the cost of living in California. While they claim that the money is going towards road projects, DeMaio says that the money from this tax won’t even go to those projects because of fraud, “We know the money isn’t actually going into road projects, which is again another that we’re having, it’s not just the cost of living that goes up with these taxes it’s the outright fraud”. DeMaio also said that there goal was to push a carless society. SANDAG also has a sales tax hike that they want to put on the ballot in November 2022, which would be voted on by the people.
DeMaio also said that it is apparent that the only way to get these politicians to stop is by taking away their seats through elections. In La Mesa, Laura Lothian won her La Mesa City Counsel seat simply by opposing this mileage tax. Escondido Mayor Paul MacNamara supports the SANDAG plan and DeMaio’s group plan to target him and other politicians who support the SANDAG plan in upcoming elections in 2022.
