Close the ‘sloophole’

Like the characters in some hippie-era pop song, many Republican lawmakers in Sacramento have decided to let this troubled world fend for itself while they sail away to some imaginary shore. On yachts. After dodging their taxes.

What other conclusion is to be drawn from their steadfast refusal to close a costly special-interest loophole? They respond to a budget crisis by slashing healthcare and education, but cling to an embarrassing quirk that allows buyers of yachts, airplanes and recreational vehicles to snicker at the sales and use taxes that the typical Californian must pay when buying something comparatively downscale. Like a car.

All the rich folk have to do is take delivery of their mega-craft out of state and keep them there for 90 days before sailing (or jetting or motoring) home. Lawmakers finally ended the yacht tax scam in 2004, but Republicans insisted on bringing it back last year. Now that the Legislature is wrapping up drastic midyear budget cuts, a majority of GOP lawmakers is again standing up for the privileged. The $26 million in taxes they won’t pay must instead be squeezed from Medi-Cal payments to doctors, hospitals and clinics, which may decide to serve only those wealthy (or insured) patients who can afford to pay their bills without help.

Restoring the legalized tax dodge was hardly a Proposition 13-like blow for beleaguered taxpayers. It is pork-barrel politics for the rich. The Republican majority should stop playing games. It should either have the courage of its convictions, convoluted as they may be, and strike the sales tax altogether, or impose it equitably on buyers of all vehicles.

The state Senate, including some Republicans, already voted to erase what Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) dubs the “sloophole.” There were also conscientious Republicans in the Assembly, but too many of them decided to sail away and watch the rest of the state anguish its way through the budget crisis. Today, they have another chance to get back onshore. They should take it.