Please join me in voting NO on the Meals Tax—measure 15-180. It would be a historic mistake for three reasons:
- The measure does not provide a stable funding for critical police services.
We cannot fund our critical police service using an inconsistent flow of revenue. Based on flawed comparisons between Jacksonville and Ashland, the authors of the meals tax make dangerous assumptions about the length of our tourist season and the level of restaurant business occurring in Jacksonville.
This measure makes no provision for alternative funding sources should the author’s projections be incorrect. A single bad season (such as this summer) due to smoke or an economic downturn would devastate the police budget.
The authors put our emergency services at risk of underfunding while not prescribing where funding should come from if there’s a funding shortfall. For these reasons, no other community in Oregon funds their emergency services this way.
- We should not depend on visitors to pay for the essential safety services we rely on.
While I do not support the surcharge, it would be irresponsible to replace it with an unreliable 5% food and beverage tax. The vast majority of Jacksonville visitors are day trippers from the surrounding communities of Southern Oregon. We have no right to expect our neighbors in the Rogue Valley to pay for our police services. You cannot sustainably grow your community by taxing others.
- We should not disadvantage and penalize local businesses with uncompetitive policies.
A new tax on food and beverages would alienate local visitors, putting Jacksonville’s restaurateurs at a disadvantage. The economics of supply and demand suggest strongly that this new tax will damage Jacksonville’s business community.
Oregon has a history of self-reliant character and unique tax history. Oregonians already pay some of the highest personal property and income taxes. As citizens of Oregon, we know what it means to pay our own way and expect a good value for our tax dollar. This measure would create an uncertain and unreliable base for our police while doing damage to our business community.
Please vote NO!
Criss Garcia, MBA
Jacksonville City Councilor since 2012