PARCEL TAX ELECTION, MVWSD, Trustee Nelson, Oct 6 Board Meeting memo
Per-square-foot "uniform" rate taxes are a fact of life now. In Berkeley Measure E1 and in Alameda Measure B1 are both on the ballot - they are both per-square-foot of building property. This is more progressive than our own existing per-square-foot of land tax.
Mountain View voters have never supported a flat structure - ALL PAY THE SAME PARCEL TAX. Our 2015 survey showed that Larger Parcels Pay More Tax ideas have higher voter support. Why would we just throw away that extra voter support?
In Berkeley, DWK's legal team from San Francisco, has helped them put a perfectly legal "uniform" per-square-foot tax on the Ballot. Measure E1. Berkeley's new per-square-foot tax on buildings will be a progressive tax, improving on an existing tax. It will be "uniform" on both residential and commercial property. The same "uniform" per-square-foot tax. We all know that "uniformity" is legally required. The Borikas case requires "uniform.”
In Berkeley and Alameda and Emeryville, school boards and voters have been happily voting for "uniform" per-square-foot taxes. There is no legal problem for them. Why should their there be a legal problem for Mountain View?
