ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : It Only Stands to Reason

During Orange County’s bankruptcy crisis, staunch anti-tax forces have relied heavily for sustenance on the pronouncements of the Reason Foundation. Invited by the politically powerful Lincoln Club in February to study the county’s privatization options, the Los Angeles-based libertarian think tank buttressed the “read-our-lips” argument when it said the county could make $1.4 billion or more from asset sales and lease-backs, and that new taxes were not necessary.

That was then and this is now. On Tuesday, the group’s senior vice president, Brian Snyder, went on a public radio news program and called for a short-term tax increase on grounds that have been apparent to others studying the crisis: The money is needed now, not down the road after things are sold off and services are put in private hands.

The foundation stood by its position that privatization and asset sales could close the gap, but even that assessment is now seriously in doubt following analyses by Orange County Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy and a group of business leaders who have taken a cold look at the numbers. Popejoy, in fact, had done everything but say a tax increase was necessary, and on Wednesday he too took the leap, recommending a half-cent sales tax increase.

At every turn, the Orange County crisis seems to point out the futility of responses based on ideology. Practical and creative solutions are needed to get the county back on its feet. So when will the Board of Supervisors see the light?

State leaders already have said, in effect, that “the state helps those who tax themselves.” Respondents in a Times Orange County poll have indicated some flexibility on the tax question. Business leaders have said taxes can’t be ruled out. And now, in a stunning modification of fixed ideology, the Reason Foundation has weighed in.

With the removal of this linchpin, the wheel has come off the argument that the county can get by without new tax revenue sources. The stubborn anti-tax forces are standing very much alone in the spotlight. They must live with the knowledge that they seem prepared to let Orange County unravel in order to preserve their anti-tax ideology.