By Al Bondi Santa Monica
I was hoping that citizens of Santa Monica would be more aware of the injustices of Measure R, but it seems that the sheep mentality took them over. The main injustice is renewing the parcel tax. To give an example: A homeowner with (an) 800 square foot condo pays the same amount (as a) homeowner with (a) 3000 square foot home and the owner of (an) apartment building with 50 units. So, basically the poorer individual is screwed again. The owner of a 50 unit apartment building can hypothetically have at least 25 children attending the local schools and pay the same amount tax of an individual with an 800 square foot condo which might have 1 or 2 children. On top of that the owner of an apartment building can offset the tax by passing it on to the renters.
It seems that during every election in the state of California there is some kind of school bond on the ballot. Most of the time they are approved but we have no idea where the money really goes. How about the state lottery? Isn’t that entity supposed to give money to our schools too?
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 9, 2008. Read the original PDF.