The latest from the NO campaign

Fresno, CA — City leaders joined labor icon Dolores Huerta, workers and community groups today calling on voters to reject the Taxpayer Deception Act.

A few wealthy real estate developers and landlords spent $20 million to put the Taxpayer Deception Act on the November ballot in hopes of creating loopholes for themselves to avoid paying their fair share in taxes. Their measure is aimed at overturning two hundred and fifty voter-approved measures and school bonds throughout the state. This unfair and undemocratic trick will cut funding for critical public services including schools, disaster and emergency response, housing, homelessness prevention programs, and so much more.

"The wealthy corporations who put the Taxpayer Deception Act on the ballot couldn't possibly understand how important public services are to our safety as a city," said Fresno City Councilmember Luis Chavez. "This dangerous measure overturns programs that keep schools safe, laws that fight air pollution to reduce asthma and lung disease, and it will hurt working families by eliminating funding for paid family leave. I look forward to co-authoring and introducing a resolution officially adding Fresno to a list of hundreds of cities, counties, and special districts across California that oppose this."

"The wealthy real estate corporations behind the Taxpayer Deception Act have a hidden agenda to hurt voters' rights," said Dolores Huerta, Labor Leader, President, Dolores Huerta Foundation. "They buried a retroactivity clause in the language, drafted to reject the will of the people -- canceling hundreds of laws and taking away our right to protect funding for schools, for emergency and disaster response, parks, libraries, and affordable housing. That's why I am proud to stand with the 600 labor unions, community organizations and local governments in opposing this deeply undemocratic and unfair initiative."

If passed, the Taxpayer Deception Act’s retroactivity clause would overturn seven voter-approved initiatives and school bonds across Fresno County. 

• Clovis will lose Measure B, which allocates $500,000 towards emergency services, anti-gang & anti-drug programs. 

• Kerman will lose Measure G, which allocates $40,000 to keeping neighborhoods, parks, streets, and public areas safe and clean. 

• Mendota will lose Measure H, nearly $500,000 allocated to essential city services including the improvement of public parks and roads. 
  

Bond Measure A, Measure D, Measure L, and Measure X would also be reversed – robbing four school districts in Fresno County of millions of dollars for repairs to leaky roofs, modernizing classrooms, upgrades to school fire systems and vocational training classrooms, fixing deteriorating gas lines and plumbing, removing mold and asbestos, improving drinking water and more. 

"This initiative minimizes our resident’s voice in determining how the city funds essential and critical investments in public safety and infrastructure today and into the future. It would continue to diminish local control.  I am asking our residents to join us in voting against this measure to maintain their voice in our community," said Clovis Mayor Lynn Ashbeck. 

“Our County Department of Public Health is a lifeline for so many families in the Central Valley. We provide vaccines children need to go to school, and alert the public if an illness is spreading through the air or through food. But a handful of ultra-wealthy people who do not live in our community and do not know our struggles are threatening our community’s health just so they can avoid paying their fair share," said Alysia L. Bonner, Supervising Office Assistant II for the County of Fresno Dept. of Public Health. "That’s why the 40,000 members of SEIU Local 521 join teachers, firefighters and community leaders like Dolores Huerta to say vote NO on the Taxpayer Deception Act!"

"Young people have been the deciding factor these past elections – and this November that will stay true! We are actively finding solutions and policies that can shape a better future for our families and communities,” said Anissa Andrade, PowerCA Action Member. “Young voters of color are ready to take our power back, stand up to sneaky billionaires and their political schemes. NO on the Taxpayer Deception Act and no more corporate scammers! WE can make a better Central Valley and California free of corporate greed."

“Local voters deserve the opportunity to have their voices heard, but by canceling 250 voter approved local measures and school bonds, the Taxpayer Deception Act robs my community of that opportunity,” said Mendota Mayor Victor Martinez. “The Taxpayer Deception Act will cause real harm to the services our constituents want, from fixing potholes to 911 response times, to maintaining our progress on keeping our kids safe from gangs. Please vote no!”   

“This initiative puts our transient occupancy tax (hotel bed tax), which the local voters approved in 2022, at risk and if approved would eliminate essential funding that we are directing towards public safety, parks and recreation and citywide maintenance to maintain Kerman’s high quality of life,” said John Jansons, Kerman City Manager. “We need California voters to see this for what it is, an attack on the quality of life and livability in our State and “the TaxPayer Deception Act” needs to be defeated.”