Editorial: Prop. 67 a poor way to raise health care funds

Proposition 67 is the wrong way to solve the very serious
problem of uninsured patients in California. The state needs more
funding for its health care system, but a telephone surcharge is
not the way to do it.

Proposition 67 would levy a new 50-cent or 3 percent surcharge
““ whichever is less ““ on residential telephones. The
money raised by the surcharge would go toward improving the 911
system, training first responders, funding urgent care clinics, and
paying doctors and hospitals for the care of uninsured
patients.

But cell phones and commercial lines would not have a 50-cent
cap, meaning the fees imposed on those lines could be extremely
high. That unfairly punishes people who have scrapped their
landlines, and companies that rely on telephones to do
business.

There is no doubt that California needs to increase funding for
its health care system. But funding should be raised via some
combination of sales, property and income tax ““ not
politically expedient surcharges on phone use.

The state government should get some guts and properly address
the state revenue crisis ““ without Proposition 67.