Submitted by Aiken Jacobsen on
We have been keeping readers up to date about Sacramento's controversial measure to institute a "crash tax." The City Council approved the ordinance in January which would charge fees for the use of emergency services such as ambulance and fire trucks. The fees would only be charged to non-residents of Sacramento who got into acar accident within the area.
It's now official: the crash tax has been repealed. Earlier this week the Sacramento City Council officially voted 6-2 to repeal the ordinance. Only the Mayor and one councilwoman voted to keep the crash tax.
The crash tax was originally proposed as a way to save money and as a way to generate revenue for the city. But as we said earlier this month there are many reasons why the crash tax could actually hurt Sacramento rather than increase the city's revenue.
Sacramento is a city with many commuters. People come here for work but they also spend money in our stores and restaurants and this helps our local economy. We don't want to discourage any non-residents from coming to Sacramento, and some fear that the crash tax could send that message.
We also argued that the crash tax adds an undue burden to innocent car accident victims. Accidents are already traumatizing and expensive without adding hundreds or even thousands of dollars in fees for emergency services.
Because of the recent vote Sacramento's crash tax ordinance was repealed before even a single penny was collected. But the loss of the crash tax still leaves the city and the state with a budget gap that needs to be filled. Check back next week as we discuss one way that California may be trying to collect that money.
Source: The Sacramento Bee online, "City Council repeals 'crash tax' on 6-2 vote," Ryan Lillis, 30 March 2011
