Editorial: Anyone for a game of ‘let’s pretend the tax will end’?

“They say time can play tricks on a memory – make people forget things they knew” – Randy Travis, “Forever and Ever, Amen”

It’s highly doubtful that in Randy Travis’s 1988 hit single the renowned country singer was thinking about municipal sales taxes levied in perpetuity. But one thing’s clear, making “people forget the things they knew” is what “sunsetting” sales taxes are all about.

The City of Sonoma is currently readying its campaign to renew Measure J, the half-cent sales tax passed in 2012 intended to plug a $2 million-plus dint in the city budget created when the state dissolved redevelopment agencies. Like many “temporary” local tax initiatives, Measure J was presented as a five-year levy, to sunset June 30, 2017.

When the Sonoma City Council on June 27 considered placing a Measure J renewal initiative on the upcoming Nov. 8 ballot, the debate centered upon whether to seek another five-year extension, or whether the ongoing need for the revenue was such that the city should simply make the tax permanent – thus saving the town from having to put on a quinquennial election (yeah, I had to look that up, too), as well as from the off chance that one day the sales tax actually doesn’t pass.

The Council this week officially moved forward with a five-year tax extension of Measure J, which will appear Nov. 8 as: same proposal, different letter of the alphabet. It’s the smart, safe decision for the council, as voters are somewhat more apt to tighten their belts temporarily, if incentivized that they’ll be able to unbutton their trousers and let out a thundering sales-tax belch at the end of the run.

But here’s the other – and by far more important – element of voter psychology at play in sunsetting taxes: they’re never really intended to sunset at all.

Here’s the idea: if voters buy in on a temporary tax and it passes, they’ll likely not feel the pinch of that tax specifically – though they may feel the cumulative effects of overall higher costs of living, which any tax contributes to – and ultimately accept the tax as “normal.” So, when it comes up for renewal, many voters won’t see it as an increase in taxes at all – but merely a vote for the status quo.

But status quo was life pre-tax; this is a vote for a new five years of a half-cent sales-tax hike. That’s a big difference, at least for some.

The interesting thing is, most North Bay voters are highly aware of this let’s-pretend-the-tax-will-end game – and appear quite willing to play.

One could cite several “entirely new” tax initiatives that have failed in recent years, but would have a hard time recalling a single tax-renewal that didn’t win the electorate’s collective thumbs up. Which means one of two things:

• The municipalities are earning the taxpayers’ trust through public transparency and wise spending.

• Or, to borrow once again from the shamelessly gushing Randy Travis ballad, time is playing tricks on our memories, and we’re forgetting the things we knew.

Perhaps in Sonoma it’s a little of both, but it almost doesn’t even matter. Because, when it comes to “sunsetting” taxes… forever and ever, amen.

By the way, registered-voter Jason typically votes for tax renewals as well, because communities most-often really need the dough. Email Jason at jason.walsh@sonomanews.com.