Though the Merced Sun Star article doesn’t say how. Only that the city has stopped AB 506 hearings, and will put a half-cent sales tax on the ballot.
Los Angeles is doing the same thing. Stockton Mayor-elect Anthony Silva favors a tax hike to fund public safety. The doable part of that is voters are more likely to pass local taxes. The problematic part is that the jail is full and other parts of the criminal justice system are broken, too. Cops alone can’t beat crime.
It’s funny. The Economist John Maynard Keynes said government should increase spending during a recession to stimulate the economy. Local governments are raising taxes. The failure of the federal government to properly stimulate the economy, or tackle the foreclosure crisis, has left local City Halls to fend for themselves.
