Richard Rider Honored as "Tax Fighter of the Year"
Sacramento — The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has selected taxpayer advocate Richard Rider as its 2009 Tax Fighter of the Year.
Rider serves as Chairman of the San Diego Tax Fighters but his work has benefited taxpayers throughout the state. His successful suit against the county of San Diego (Rider vs. County of San Diego) forced a rollback of an illegal 1/2-cent jails sales tax a precedent that has saved California taxpayers over fourteen billion dollars including $3.5 billion for San Diego taxpayers.
"Richard deserves this award year in and year out" said HJTA President Jon Coupal. "He can always be counted on to lead the charge against government mismanagement incompetence and corruption wherever it is found — and it’s not hard to find so he is a very busy man."
A presentation will be made to Rider on Friday August 28 on the Capitol steps in Sacramento as part of a major taxpayer/tea party rally. The Howard Jarvis Tax Fighter of the Year award includes a $1000 honorarium.
Over the years Rider has been a leader in actively supporting a number of tax-cutting ballot initiatives including Proposition 13. He has written ballot arguments against numerous state and county tax increase ballot measures.
Rider has been involved in legal actions against City of San Diego to force a public vote on issuing bonds for Qualcomm stadium expansion convention center baseball ballpark and other projects. In 2005 he was an unsuccessful candidate for Mayor of San Diego but his ideas set the tone for the candidate debates and his reform ideas have since taken hold.
Rider’s columns stressing spending reform tax relief and a logical approach to governing appear regularly in publications such as the North County Times and the San Diego Daily Transcript.