Prop 21 : Car Tax for California State Parks

With less than a week to go for the election day, I have a lot of homework to cram! To get the feeling of accomplishment, I've made up my mind about the first vote I am going to cast, which is an easy one for me.

YES! on Prop 21.

Proposition 21 would establish an $18 annual vehicle license surcharge to help fund state parks and wildlife programs.

The key features of this prop are:

* flat $18 fee per vehicle per year (larger commercial vehicles exempted)
* no parking fee at State Parks for vehicles that pay this fee
* all monies dedicated to State Parks and wildlife conservation
* explicitly mandates stopping taking money from general fund for State Parks

Quoting from KQED's Prop guide:

"Supporters of the initiative say creating a specific fund for state parks is the only way to preserve them. They also argue that firmer funding for the parks is a good investment because the 80 million annual visits to California's parks boost jobs and increase tax revenues in local communities.

Opponents say that the state is playing a shell game, taking money already set aside for park maintenance and pushing it to the general fund while creating what they say is actually a new tax. The owners of about 6.8 million smaller commercial vehicles would have to pay the fee and some opponents say this creates a hardship on small business owners."

It is true that if the California legislature were working well and passing balanced budgets, this sort of "ballot box budgeting" will be unnecessary at best, and disruptive at worst. But I feel the State Parks are too important to be let to go to waste until the politics cleans up itself. There is no question that something like State Parks upkeep would be the last thing to get funded (even though the opponents of Prop 21 claim that it's fully funded now). The governarator threatened to close down 200 of the 270+ parks just last year! So I am all for this band-aid, which all but the really poor can easily afford.

I also like the idea of dis-incentivising driving by way of taxes, and using the money to do some environmental good. For those who argue that it is unfair to make everyone pay for the parks, when not everyone uses them, I have this to ask: I don't use California State Route 20; I don't want to pay for its maintenance; can I pay less taxes this year?

So stop complaining, and take a hike in a State Park. Soon, you don't even have to pay a parking fee!