MEASURE

F

Should a special tax of $150 per $1,000 of gross receipts from everything sold by gun dealers be imposed to provide funds for the usual and current expenses of City conflict resolution, recreational, and educational programs specifically directed at youth?

THE SITUATION

Guns were used to commit 14 homicides, 907 robberies and 105 aggravated assaults in Berkeley between 1993 and 1995. Crime, gangs, and gun violence occur across city lines. The East Bay Public Safety Corridor Partnership, made up of public safety officials of cities and counties along the I-80 corridor, is taking a regional approach to respond to such crimes. It encourages cities to pass the same laws as an important tool to combat crime and gun violence. Proposals include a special tax on sellers of guns and ammunition, restricting where gun dealers can do business, requiring triggerlocks when guns are sold, and banning sale of "Saturday Night Specials" (small handguns which are easily concealed). San Francisco, Oakland, and San Leandro have enacted special gross receipt taxes on businesses selling guns and ammunition.

Currently, there are no known gun dealers in Berkeley. All Berkeley businesses are taxed at the rate of $1.20 per $1,000 of gross receipts.

This special tax, Measure E, would authorize the City to collect $150 per $1,000 of gross receipts from everything sold by gun and ammunition dealers in Berkeley. This tax would provide funds for the expenses of the City's conflict resolution, recreational, and educational programs specifically directed at youth. The City Council would be able to repeal or change this ordinance and later reenact it without voter approval, as long as the tax is not increased. As a new tax, this measure requires a 2/3 vote.

A YES vote means there would be a special tax of $150 per $1,000 of gross receipts from everything sold by dealers selling guns and ammunition within the City of Berkeley. When and if such dealers exist, the tax would provide funds for the City's conflict resolution, recreational, and educational programs directed at youth.

A NO vote means that when and if stores selling guns and ammunition exist in Berkeley, they would pay the same gross receipts tax as any other business does, namely, $1.20 per $1,000 of gross receipts.

· This measure would support the regional goal of reducing gun violence.

· Discouraging the sale of guns by dealers in our community is a way to reduce the number of guns on the street.

· Medical costs for gun injuries were $7 million in Alameda County in 1993. The taxpayers pay about 80% of these costs.

· Guns are the leading cause of death for youth in California. More people in California die from guns than from car accidents.

· There were more than twice as many gun dealers as public schools in California in 1994.

· This tax is unfair. It taxes all products sold by a dealer, not just guns and ammunition.

· This tax raises the cost of guns and ammunition for poor people, so that they cannot defend themselves.

· This tax is out of line with the similar tax in Oakland, which is $24 per $1,000 of gross sales.

· More taxes on gun dealers will drive guns into the black market, which is more difficult to control.

· Such a tax should be used for programs related to the cost of people using guns, such as law enforcement and medical costs.

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Shirley Dean, Mayor; Doris Fine, President, League of Women Voters; Mia Gittlen, Youth Commissioner; Virginia Dillon, Executive Director, Family Violence Law Center; Ted Schultz, President, Berkeley School Board.

MAJOR OPPONENTS

There is no formal opposition recorded in the Alameda County Voter Pamphlet.