Proposed Cut in Car Tax

Thanks for putting the brakes on Gov. Pete Wilson’s misguided and opportunistic car tax proposal (“Slick Sales Pitch on Car Tax,” editorial, June 23). Unfortunately, the state budget debate is currently being framed as though there were no other way for legislators to give back to taxpayers. There is: restoring the renters’ tax credit to 6 million California renters, three-fourths of whom earn less than $30,000 a year.

Suspended in 1993 during the recession, the credit provides $60 to individuals and $120 to couples. At a modest $530 million a year, the renters’ credit will benefit Californians who could really use the break. Despite the booming economy, our state, like the rest of the country, is facing an affordable housing crisis that forces a typical family of poor renters to spend 60% of its income on shelter. What’s a better investment: Giving a $120 tax break to a working mother so she can buy her children new shoes and books, or putting triple that amount in the pocket of a new Lexus owner?

RANDY SHAW

Executive Director

Tenderloin Housing Clinic

San Francisco

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The car tax is unfair to those of us who choose to spend our discretionary income on nice cars. Why not an annual 2% tax on the value of a personal computer, baseball card collection, etc.?

The car tax should be used for roads only, and the fair way to assess it is to base it on a vehicle’s weight. More democratic states do it that way. Additionally, such a change would encourage people to buy newer cars, which pollute much less.

BILL SERANTONI

Thousand Oaks