eather Fargo, the “Milk Carton Mayor” (still missing from her duties as Sacramento’s civic leader), says that although she has “concerns” about the details she is nonetheless “comfortable” asking the City Council and voters to approve a city “Gang Tax.”

Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson first coughed this idea up a couple of weeks ago. Originally conceived as a countywide measure to combat the growing problem of street gangs, Dickinson’s idea was to hike the Sacramento County sales tax up a quarter of a percent to a full eight percent. According to published reports, such a hike would garner around $50 million in new tax money that would supposedly go to “anti-gang” enforcement.

It didn’t take long for Dickinson to realize two things: one, that the gang problem is in Sacramento and increasingly in Elk Grove—bad for them, but they are their own jurisdictions and should cover their own nut; and two, that it would be smarter to lay down on the track in front of a speeding train than to advocate a tax hike.

While Dickinson was looking to tax Sacramento out of gang problems, Sheriff John McGinness happened to mention that the problem in his jurisdiction is being effectively addressed through a program his department started two years ago.

McGinness also pointed out that the new tax hike appears to be a fee in search of any sort of goal or plan to get there. As best as he (or I) can determine, the basic idea is to collect the money and then figure out how it can be used to fight gang activity. Brilliant plan, if the goal is just to find a new general revenue stream.

There is also the little part of the proposal that caught my eye; at least 60 percent of the tax collected must be used for so-called “prevention” programs. That means money to be doled out to neighborhoods with effective citizen representation for parks, midnight basketball—whatever hair-brained, nut-wad idea the mental giants of I Street come up with and label “gang prevention.” Not that such things are necessarily bad (some even provide a legitimate mission of government), but good luck getting a dime out to South Sacramento and other centers of gang activity. If those areas had effective representation – or were even noticed by city hall – then they would already have what they need.

With the chances of a county tax hike all but dead, Dickinson has determined that it is better that Fargo should grab this particular third rail. The city-only tax would raise around $16 million. That’s a lot of dough for city councilors and the “Milk Carton Mayor” to dole out to their favorite causes and the most powerful and effective community representatives, all of whom will be in line for their cut.

The neighborhoods that need the help already have a “Gang Tax” of sorts and it goes like this, “You saw nothing, now give me what I want or I’ll just take it next week from your widow—after the fire.” I suppose it is at least a little cleaner than that with the official version of the “Gang Tax,” but the principle is pretty much the same.

Oh, as for Dickinson, he is happy to press for a tax hike in the city of Sacramento—and why shouldn’t he be? That’s all the more money for the county budget that will suddenly appear if city taxes increase and shoppers venture out into the great beyond of unincorporated Sacramento County.