San Gabriel Valley : Citizens Group Calls Tax Unconstitutional

A Covina citizens group is calling on residents to stop paying the city’s utility tax, saying it is unconstitutional based on a recent state Supreme Court ruling.

But the state’s major anti-tax group advises against such actions and city officials call it illegal.

Covina Citizens for United Action is urging residents to inform the utility companies in writing they will not pay the 7% tax and demand it be removed from bills. The group cites a September decision by the state Supreme Court to uphold a 1986 statewide ballot measure--Proposition 62--that requires voter approval of general and special taxes, said Hank Vagt, the group’s chairman.

Vagt, one of a dozen Covina residents who have already stopped paying the tax, said the tax is illegal because it was never submitted to voters before the council imposed it in November 1994 at 8.25%. In a nonbinding advisory vote last month, 54% of the city’s voters supported the tax. The council subsequently lowered the tax from 8.25% to 7%.

City officials say those who follow such advice will be breaking the law. “I believe what they are doing is illegal,” said Councilman Thomas Falls, a deputy district attorney for the county.

Joel Fox, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., said residents should continue to pay the tax--and write “I pay under protest” on the notice--until the courts clarify whether all taxes imposed since 1986 without voter approval are unconstitutional.

Fox said the state Supreme Court will have to hear another case on the issue to settle that debate and residents who do not want the tax they can file a legal challenge.