Someone Has to Say It: We Need a Tax : California’s share of quake-recovery spending is relatively small. Don’t let political leaders shirk what has to be done.

President Clinton has thrown down the gauntlet to California in an exceptionally compassionate way. He has generously asked Congress for $7.5 billion--money that would come directly to California, if only we can match the federal spending by 10 cents on the dollar. That means we have to raise $700 million of new money fast if we want that federal money to come to us in a timely way to rebuild schools and roads and repair bridges and freeways, and help the people and businesses that were hurt the most by the earthquake.

State and local political leaders raced to the scene of the disaster and poked their heads in front of every camera and microphone. However, they are ducking out of sight when it comes to explaining how California can pay its small matching amount for the federal aid.

The Clinton team has been exceptionally responsive to California’s crisis. After the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, California legislators had to go to Washington to talk with Cabinet officials about housing and transportation needs. This time, Cabinet members like Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros and Transportation Secretary Federico Pena not only came to California, they stayed to help. After the 1989 quake, the government required that California match federal aid by 25%; the state imposed a 1/4% sales tax increase that raised more than $700 million in 13 months. The Clinton proposal offers far more aid money for a much smaller matching percentage.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi are the only major California political leaders to have immediately called for a revenue-raising measure to help pay for reconstruction. State Treasurer Kathleen Brown and Gov. Pete Wilson both said last Saturday that proposals to raise the sales tax or gas tax were “premature.” It’s no longer premature. Californians need to persuade Congress, quickly, that we are willing to do our share. Otherwise we risk having Congress seriously reduce the President’s proposals or vote to have California pay a much higher matching share of the costs. Why, after all, should members of Congress from Georgia and Michigan and Texas risk the wrath of their constituents in order to help California? Californians have to help the President and his team make our case. We have to point to the fact that despite our badly crippled state economy, the state has quickly imposed new revenue measures for quake relief. Support for new sales taxes or gas taxes to raise the needed money should also be heard from Mayor Richard Riordan and the L.A. County Supervisors.

The politicians’ reaction to this crisis should cause us, as voters, to do some hard self-analysis. What is it about our voting patterns these last several decades that has made politicians so cowardly when it comes to discussing directly the obvious need for new taxes? Time after time, when politicians suggest new revenues, they lose. Their opponents, who promise “no new taxes,” win. Consequently we no longer have honest political dialogue. Politicians are afraid that if they tell us we can’t have our cake and eat it too, we will vote them out of a job.

But jobs for many in Southern California are what this federal earthquake relief package is all about. The construction sector, which has been one of the most depressed parts of our local economy, will have an immediate lift, and much of the relief money will be spent to put Californians back to work. Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Northridge) lives near the epicenter of the quake. Her constitituents would be among the people to benefit most from a timely and generous federal aid package. Yet, the day after the quake, she was quoted as saying that she did not support a tax increase on Californians to pay for rebuilding. If people like Paula Boland and Pete Wilson don’t lead in raising California’s small share of the money, we may all suffer a backlash from an angry Congress.

We are lucky to have a powerful California congressional delegation, two U.S. senators with influence in the Administration and a White House team in which many people come from and care about California. The members of California’s congressional delegation should use all of their influence to get their colleagues to join them in supporting the President’s proposals. Los Angeles and California political leaders should take voters’ heat if they do not, within days, show Congress that we in California are prepared to do what should be done to get the money we need. Momentum must not be lost.