Letters: ‘Class warfare’ on the L.A. ballot

Re “Tax vote reflects differing realities,” March 9

The Times should be wary about printing such an enlightening article, which notes that though voters in less well-off L.A. neighborhoods overwhelmingly supported Proposition A (the failed half-cent sales tax increase on the city ballot last week), those in wealthier areas decisively rejected it. To document the wealthy’s disdain for taxes that might help the poor risks banal accusations about fomenting “class warfare.”

Readers might draw unjust conclusions about those most vociferously opposed to tax increases for the public good. Might they be those folks who can send their kids to the best private schools and afford good healthcare? Would they be the same swells who typically live in high-walled, gated fortresses secure from street crime’s ravages?

Those dismissive of the notion that “we’re all in this together” are the ones most likely to conduct what can be called “class warfare by stealth.”

Ed Alston

Santa Maria

While reading your article, I reflected on the reasons for my vote on Proposition A. I am a strong supporter of social services, as I am a public school teacher. This revenue was supposed to have been funded by a tax on property sales, but thanks to a massive lobbying effort by the real estate industry, it was turned into a sales tax before being put on the ballot.

I find it objectionable that The Times portrays the defeat of Proposition A as the outcome of a rich-versus-poor battle. I’m sure that for many voters such as myself, it was an issue of big business trying to sneak one by an uninformed electorate.

Sanford Weber

Porter Ranch

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