The city of Costa Mesa has long struggled with financial discipline. Just as you would hesitate in your personal life to hand over more money to a spendthrift, voters should be equally wary of the city’s latest pitch for more tax dollars.
California Policy Center’s Fiscal Health Dashboard has graded Costa Mesa a “D” from 2022 to 2025. As former Orange County state Senator John Moorlach recently noted, Costa Mesa has consistently been one of the lowest ranked cities in Orange County when it comes to fiscal health.
Yet here we are. Measure C, placed on the ballot by the city council, asks voters to increase the city’s business license tax, which has been fixed in place for 41 years. The city estimates the tax will raise $5.6 million for the city’s general fund.
As summarized by this newspaper, “The city’s business license fee has been capped at $200 a year since 1985, regardless of how much money a business makes. If the measure passes, businesses that make more than $500,000 in annual revenue would pay 50 cents per $1,000. So a business with $1 million in sales would pay $500 per year to operate in the city.”
Signing the official argument in support are government officials and the head of the local firefighters union.
Unfortunately, voters won’t see an opposing argument. Editorial board member John Seiler told the story why, but fortunately Sen. Moorlach has published his own brief rebuttal to the government’s arguments in favor.
“The proposed business tax could have been indexed for inflation for decades. So much for staying on top of municipal fees,” Moorlach noted, continuing, “The majority of the current city council will continue to nickel and dime the businesses and residents of Costa Mesa.”
Supporters argue the tax is a small fraction of gross sales, but if the amount is so negligible, the city government should easily be able to live without it. Local businesses already deal with rising costs, regulations, and taxes of all types. Measure C is simply another liability dumped onto contributing members of society by a government that refuses to live within its means.
Vote no on Measure C.