By Walter Moore, Candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles, WalterMooreForMayor.com

Mayor Villaraigosa, the City Council and the public relations consultants they hired to fool you into voting for Prop S rely on three big lies.  Here are the big three -- straight from the proponents’ website -- and the true facts.

Lie No. 1: “Does Prop S raise taxes?  No. Proposition S reduces the utility tax from 10% to 9%.”

If Prop S were really a tax cut, Villaraigosa and the City Council could have and should have adopted it on their own without blowing $5.1 million on the special election.  You see, City Hall does not need voters’ approval to reduce a tax.  The Mayor and City Council are free at any time to reduce or repeal city taxes on their own. 

California’s Constitution (Prop 218) requires voters’ approval only if City Hall wants to “impose, extend or increase any general tax.”  Villaraigosa and the City Council are seeking your approval because Prop S is a tax hike.  They’ve gotten caught repeatedly violating Prop 218 (e.g., the cell phone tax hike in 2003 and the extension of land-line phone tax in January 2007), so this time they decided to try to fool you into voting for a tax hike by calling it a tax cut.

Lie No. 2: “Prop S is fairer than the current tax because it will apply equally to all telephone communications technologies, not just the residents and small businesses that currently pay”

Prop S is not “fair,” does not “apply equally.”  Plus, it actually charges residents and small business more than certain big businesses.  Prop S would impose a 9% tax on you, but only 5% on telemarketing agencies.  And Prop S would exempt the L.A. Times, Hoy, La Opinion and local news radio stations from any tax on cell phones, wireless and internet services.  Does it sound “fair” and “equal” to charge you 9%, telemarketers 5% and the L.A. Times nothing?

Lie No. 3:  “Proposition S is vital for emergency response. It ensures that we have the firefighters and paramedics to handle 911 calls quickly and professionally.”

Wait a minute!  Didn’t these same people just finish telling us that Prop S would reduce taxes?  How, then, can a reduction of taxes be “vital for emergency response?”  The answer, of course, is that they’re lying about Prop S being a tax cut. 

But they’re also lying about Prop S being vital for, or ensuring the provision of, emergency services.  Prop S contains absolutely no language requiring that any revenues be used for 911, firefighters, police, or anything else.  If Prop S contained such language, it would be a “special tax” rather than a “general tax,” and City Hall would have to fool two-thirds of the voters into approving it, rather than a bare majority.

The City already takes in more revenues than ever in its history -- $6.7 billion per year, up 27% from the 2004-05 budget.  The City could discontinue all phone and cell phone taxes, and hire an additional 1000 police officers, and the remaining revenues would still be 21% higher than in 2004-05.

That money is routinely squandered.  Don’t take my word for it.  Here’s what the City Controller said:   "we shouldn't think of asking taxpayers for more money until we get our house in order."

On October 16, 2007, moreover, the City Administrative Officer sent Villaraigosa and the City Council a memo with a schedule of budget cuts to make up for loss of the $270 million of phone tax revenues.  Guess what?  If you omit any cuts for the police and fire departments, the cuts still exceed $300 million. 

Ending the phone tax may require us to stop subsidizing the annual Polish Film Festival, but we could still hire as many police as we want.

Bottom line:  We don’t need a new tax.  We need a new mayor.  And, until then, we need more ads to educate our fellow voters about Prop S.  So chip in, would you?  Contribute today.