Sacramento Bee Examines Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association’s Political Actions, Stance on Proposition 63
The Sacramento Bee on Wednesday examined the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association's history of political endorsements, including its opposition to Proposition 63, a measure on the Nov. 2 statewide ballot that would increase taxes by 1% for state residents with taxable annual incomes of more than $1 million to fund mental health programs.
According to the Bee, over the years, the association has "come under fire for taking positions that could be at odds with its no-new-taxes philosophy" and for launching campaigns funded by businesses and high-income donors. The Bee reports that many of the mailings from Jarvis are funded by political campaigns, rather than the organization's "core constituency of homeowners and retirees living on fixed incomes."
One example is Proposition 63, which the association opposes. According to the Bee, a Jarvis-backed committee called "No New Taxes" has received contributions from a petroleum company and a developer to oppose the measure (Benson, Sacramento Bee, 10/27).
Proposition 63 represents "a ray of hope for mental health in our state and in our country" because it "would give us the funds to do the things we can't do now," Curtis Thornton, chair of the Fresno County Mental Health Board, writes in a Fresno Bee letter to the editor. "More money spent on mental health can actually decrease other governmental costs," Thornton continues, noting that "creative programs" can help patients and families manage mental illness, thus "dramatically" reducing the "need for hospitalization or incarceration." He concludes, if people want "society to do as much as it can to assist dealing with [the] great challenge" of mental illness, they will vote "yes" on Proposition 63 (Thornton, Fresno Bee, 10/26).
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