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Measure E is a deceptive $192 annual parcel tax that continues a decades long legacy of Oakland charging residents more while delivering less. Instead of addressing the city's deep financial mismanagement, Measure E relies on misleading language to burden taxpayers without any real accountability.
Measure E is a deceptive $192 annual parcel tax that continues a decades long legacy of Oakland charging residents more while delivering less. Instead of addressing the city's deep financial mismanagement, Measure E relies on misleading language to burden taxpayers without any real accountability.
Oakland residents cannot keep writing blank checks to a city administration that fundamentally fails to manage its current resources. The city must be compelled to reform its fiscal administration, address structural deficits, end reliance on one-time funds to cover ongoing expenses, and actually deliver basic services before it comes back to hardworking taxpayers for another dime.
Oakland residents cannot keep writing blank checks to a city administration that fundamentally fails to manage its current resources. The city must be compelled to reform its fiscal administration, address structural deficits, end reliance on one-time funds to cover ongoing expenses, and actually deliver basic services before it comes back to hardworking taxpayers for another dime.
A Legacy of Broken Promises
Oakland has repeatedly broken the promises it made to voters in past tax measures.
The city frequently suspends or partially funds voter-approved mandates for minimum staffing and services, such as those promised in Measures Q, C, D, N, W, AA, and NN.
The city routinely ignores accountability requirements, as highlighted by a Grand Jury finding that Oakland completely failed to conduct the mandatory audits required for Measures KK and U.
Despite collecting higher taxes, the city has failed to fill the 700 sworn police officer positions mandated by a previous measure, fielding only 613 officers (around 500 active.)
Failing to Fix the Structural Deficit
Measure E's estimated $34 million in annual revenue will not solve Oakland's structural deficit.
The city continually relies on one-time funds to cover ongoing expenses and leaves its underlying structural deficit unaddressed.
City leaders exploit a contradictory fiscal strategy — simultaneously declaring an "extreme financial emergency" to avoid hiring mandated staff while declaring budget "surpluses" to grant pay raises and bonuses to union staff.
The tax is fundamentally inequitable; flat-rate parcel taxes like Measure E hit homeowners in deep East Oakland up to 48% harder than those in affluent areas like Rockridge as a percentage of home value.
Deceptive Language and Manufactured Crises
The ballot language deceptively claims the tax will "prevent longer 911 response times," "address homelessness," and "keep fire stations open".
Oakland's public employee unions are deliberately using the threat of fire station closures and public safety cuts to strong-arm voters into approving the hike.
The promise to address homelessness is entirely misleading, given that Oakland's homeless population currently grows by a net of 1,000 people every year despite the city already spending $122 million annually on the crisis.
The campaign is being pushed as a "citizen-led" initiative sponsored by labor organizations, a strategic loophole designed to allow the tax to pass with a simple majority rather than the two-thirds vote usually required.
Oakland needs genuine fiscal accountability, an independent audit of its finances, and structural change to balance the budget — not another blank check for a city that refuses to keep its promises.
Oakland needs genuine fiscal accountability, an independent audit of its finances, and structural change to balance the budget — not another blank check for a city that refuses to keep its promises.
Vote NO on Measure E!
Vote NO on Measure E!
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