Jon Coupal is President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Would you commit to buy a car, a house or even a jacket without knowing the price? Unless you are a member of the one percent, chances are, you want to know what it will cost you before you make a purchase.
But what about ballot measures that can cost every citizen hundreds or even thousands of dollars? At the state level, the Legislative Analyst’s Office has the responsibility to provide a “fiscal impact” analysis – that is, information to voters as to the costs to taxpayers of passing a proposition.
But this isn’t currently required at the local level. And those backing attractive sounding, but costly, measures like it that way. They prefer to keep the public in the dark. If a county measure promises to create new parks in every neighborhood, it may sound great, but taxpayers should know what it will cost them before they cast a vote.
To read the entire column click here http://www.hjta.org/california-commentary/great-idea-put-price-tag-on-ballot-measures/