Torrance Residents: Tell City Council to Reject Sales Tax Increase

 Dear Torrance residents:

Last month, the Torrance City Council voted to move forward on a terrible idea to raise the sales tax in the city. Yes, the city is facing some severe economic headwinds, but raising the sales tax is not going to ensure that there is an actual increase in revenue.

Sales are already down right now in a number of businesses throughout the city, including the Del Amo Fashion Center, precisely because so many people are struggling to get out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But as business reopens, as businesses reopen around the city and throughout the state, economic growth will recover. There is no reason for the city to dampen economic recovery with an increased sales tax.

An informal survery was taken online recent, specifically in the Seaside section of the city of Torrance. Here are the results:

A staggering 94% said NO to a sales tax increase.

This sample size is bigger than the sample size sought by the consultants hired by the city of Torrance to look into floating a sales tax increase.

The city would have to spend another $400,000 to have the measure on the ballot, and they are already looking to spend money on a consultant to determine whether they should go through with this initiative in the first place.

The city council and staff need to find other ways to save money while holding onto core services. Why not privatize the garbage collection service? How about dealing with the lingering, staggering pension issues which are still hurting the city?

There are plenty of cost-saving measures which the city of Torrance should consider. Raising taxes on the residents is NOT one of them.

Contact the Torrance City Council, and make it very clear to them:

NO TAX INCREASES!

CouncilMeetingPublicComment@TorranceCA.Gov

Torrance City Council Contacts

Pat Furey (pfurey@torranceca.gov);

George Chen (gchen@torranceca.gov);

Aurelio Mattucci (amattucci@torranceca.gov);

Sharon Kalani (skalani@torranceca.gov)

Mike Griffiths (mgriffiths@torranceca.gov);

Heidi Ashcraft (hashcraft@torranceca.gov);

Jack Walser (jwalser@torranceca.gov);

Phone:   (310) 618-2801

Public Comment, Torrance City Council (July 27, 2021)

No mask mandates in the city of Torrance. NONE!

No Vaccine mandates for workers. NONE. I have heard reports about this being proposed. This is outrageous and unacceptable.

The city should issue a clear proclamation that the city will no longer enforce the unfounded, unconstitutional mandates from the county and the state of California

Black Lives Matter is an egregious hate group. Most of the people calling in for Christopher Cowboy Mitchell do not live in the city. Ignore them. They are welcome to make fools of themselves defending a career criminal who got himself killed because he did not follow orders.

All black lives matter, and that includes the black man whose car was stolen by Christopher Cowboy Mitchell. How about David Dorn of St. Louis Missouri, who was killed by BLM rioters while defending businesses

6D – Planting trees is a great thing. But really, the city needs to start farming out these costs to non-profits and other agencies that want to do good for the city of Torrance. The city of Torrance is a balanced city, but I do not see why the city is taking on these costs, however great or small they may be. We need to find other ways to beautify the city without ancillary costs like this.

9D – There should be no sales tax increases. None. The city could have avoided many of the budget shortfalls if they ignored the unconstitutional lockdowns and mandates and let the businesses open and thrive or make their own decisions about their businesses.

Torrance is The Balanced City. The city needs to balance its budget without dipping further into the wallets of the residents. There is plenty of overspending on city overhead, waste, and other costs. The majority of that city council ran for office on a platform of fiscal discipline.