Vote Yes on Prop. 6, a reader urges

Prop. 6 was given an obscure title by Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, but to make it clear — it is the repeal of the state gas tax of 12 cents per gallon and 29 cents on diesel fuel and $25 to $175 in registration fees that Gov. Brown imposed on all of us last November without a vote of the people.

When the governor saw that we had nearly a million signatures on the petition to get this on the ballot, he knew his tax hike could be in trouble so they started airing their commercials, telling us how bad our bridges and roads are. Of course, we have been paying taxes all along to take care of these bridges and roads, but I believe they were using that money for other projects such as the high-speed rail.

Nine or 10 years ago I voted for that bond to provide $9 billion for the HSR but then the price tag ballooned to over $100 billion and I turned against it, as did the majority of taxpayers. The cost has now settled to about $68 billion.

We were told that investors would be paying for it. Guess what? To my knowledge, they can’t find any investors who want to invest in that boondoggle, so guess who is still paying? The taxpayers.

The state expects an extra $5.1 billion per year through this increase in taxes, and it can last for at least 10 years.

You have also seen in the commercials that this is suppose to be a safety issue, so the CHP supports Gov. Brown. That is understandable as he is the CHP boss and the CAHP board members are still active CHP employees. I am a retired CHP officer and a lifetime member of that association, so not all active or retired people will be voting with Gov. Brown.

So if this proposition is successful, our bridges and roads will be no worse off than they are now. A family of four will not have to put out about $780 more per year for gasoline when we already pay more for gas than any other state except possibly Alaska and Hawaii.

Vote Yes on Prop. 6.

— Frank Bradford,

Madera