Local Officials Decry Governor’s Car Tax Cut Plan

Top county, school and union leaders Friday sharply criticized Gov. Pete Wilson’s plan to slash the state’s vehicle license fee, saying the trumpeted cut in the “car tax” will decimate funding for schools and local government services.

The officials said they were kicking off a statewide campaign to derail Wilson’s plan, which calls for reducing the average $185 fee motorists pay each year to register their cars.

Wilson is pursuing the cut in the midst of a $4.4-billion state surplus, arguing that taxes levied during California’s recession earlier this decade should be returned as the economy continues to bloom.

The governor wants to slash the car fee by 75% within five years, eventually handing $3.6 billion back to taxpayers.

But local officials blasted Wilson for championing the tax break instead of helping local governments that shelled out $3 billion to help the state weather the recession of the early 1990s.

“That money is local government’s money--for our police, for our fire, for our schools, for our public works,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said at a news conference at Erwin Street Elementary School.

“This proposal to reduce the vehicle license fee is a bait and switch proposal . . . to not invest in the local governments and schools of our state, which have been beaten this decade more than any other level of government,” he added.

The launch of the campaign came one day after the release of a report by the state Legislative Analyst’s Office warning that the tax cut could lead to annual budget deficits of almost $850 million by the turn of the century, a finding the Wilson administration disputed.

Wilson defended his plan as a long-overdue break for tax-weary Californians. He promoted the measure in a statewide conference call Friday with 10 GOP legislators and three Assembly candidates.

“We need to cut this tax for the simple reason that it’s fair, it’s the right thing to do,” Wilson said in a written statement. “The Legislature raised this tax when times were bad. Good times are back, and will be for some time, which means there will be no better time to cut the car tax, to give taxpayers something back from a government that already takes too much.”

Wilson’s plan would replace the car-tax money--which by law goes to city and county governments--by tapping the state’s general fund.

A Wilson spokesman noted that the governor’s proposal calls for a statutory guarantee of continued funding, and that the governor would support a constitutional amendment to the same effect.

But it is the very idea of tapping the general fund in Wilson’s plan that most agitates school officials, whose budgets already rely largely on revenues from the state’s general fund.

They predicted that any raid on the state money would have a disastrous effect for schools across California, which ranks 37th in the nation in per-pupil spending.

“For every person who receives a rebate on their vehicle license fee, a book could be purchased for a student,” said Julie Korenstein, president of the Los Angeles Board of Education. “I appeal to the governor: Don’t do this to the children of California.”

Korenstein was joined by Day Higuchi, president of United Teachers-Los Angeles.

To drive their point home, the leaders held the news conference in the Erwin Street School library, surrounded by tattered and frayed books, some more than 60 years old.

They also brought along two high-profile speakers to argue their cause--the coach and one of the members of the El Camino Real High School academic decathlon team, which won the national title earlier this year.

“I’m one of the people this bill is going to affect,” said Adi Zarchi, an El Camino senior and team member. “Take it from me, it’s not very easy to learn trigonometry when there are 40 kids in classrooms with no air-conditioning.”

A spokesman for Wilson said the governor plans to devote $500 million of the state surplus to education, in addition to the base funding provided schools by state law.

“Education is the top priority of the Wilson administration,” Ron Low said. “The governor has led an educational renaissance in California. This budget once again shows that. We are investing heavily in education.”

The opponents’ campaign will continue Monday when Yaroslavsky and Supervisor Yvonne Braithwaite Burke lobby officials in Sacramento. Yaroslavsky said other officials across the state--including Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown--also will add their voices to the campaign.