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Public Comment
From:Vern Nelson <vernpnelson@gmail.com>
Sent:Sunday, July
To:Public Comment; Loretta Day; Trevor O'Neil; Jose Moreno; Jose Diaz; Stephen Faessel;
Avelino Valencia; Gloria S. Ma'ae
Subject:\[EXTERNAL\] YES ON ITEM 12 - Please allow Anaheim voters to decide whether to tax
tourists!
Warning: This email originated from outside the City of Anaheim. Do not click links or open
attachments unless you recognize the sender and are expecting the message.
Hello everybody. I really think you all should vote yes on item 12, to allow the REST OF US TO DECIDE
whether or not to charge a 2% entertainment tax.
You may or may not favor this tax yourselves, but it would be wrong to deny Anaheim's citizens a vote on such
an important matter.
Voting no (as I hope none of you do) would mean protecting multi-billion dollar corporations like Disney - and
protecting such a TINY FRACTION of their profitability! - over the people of Anaheim, our right to vote, and
fiscal sanity as well.
That's the main message, LET THE PEOPLE VOTE. I could go on, if you feel like reading on, and say why
this 2% gate tax is fair and necessary.
Our $1.6 billion debt is going to force us, soon, to choose between a Gate Tax and Declaring Bankruptcy. I
know Trevor doesn't believe this, but the little bit of revenue we're currently getting from our very profitable
tourism industry is not going to make much of a dent in that debt.
2% is HELL OF REASONABLE. Most other tourist-dependent towns have 5% entertainment taxes or
more. And it would get us from $55 to 82 million a year.
THIS WILL NOT HURT DISNEY. We're not trying to hurt or punish Disney. We just want them to be good
corporate citizens. Thru 2019-21, as Covid came and went, they made PROFITS of $27.5 billion, $21.5 billion,
and $22.2 billion. We're always warned, every time this comes up (for decades now) that if we pass a Gate Tax
Disney and the Angels etc. will have to raise their ticket prices. And then every year they do anyway. That
argument is limp.
We could be paying off our debt a LOT quicker, and also getting things that Anaheim can't afford right now -
more swimming pools, citywide WiFi, lighting for parks, a city gym or two ... hell, if you guys vote the right
way we could name them the Faessel Gym, the Ma'ae Pool, the Diaz Senior Center, the O'Neil Dog Park, the
Valencia Community Center!
What do you say guys!? See you Tuesday and we all hope you vote the right way!
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