Treasurer Henry Levy concedes he didn't know if Measure E will 'lower tax rates for most homeowners' when he endorsed it
Alameda County treasurer Henry Levy backed away from his definitive 'lower tax rates' claim about the Oakland Measure E parcel tax in the county's official Voter Information Guide.
Oakland Report continues its coverage of Oakland’s broken promises and deceptive practices with its parcel taxes. Read the full series.
Alameda County Treasurer Henry Levy concedes his statement that Measure E will ‘lower tax rates for a majority of homeowners’ lacked factual support
In the “Argument in Favor” of Oakland’s Measure E published in the county’s official Voter Information Guide, Alameda County Treasurer Henry “Hank” Levy stated:
“Join me and Oakland Firefighters in supporting YES on E for safer streets, cleaner neighborhoods, and a healthier community while lowering tax rates for a majority of homeowners.”
– Alameda County Treasurer Henry “Hank” Levy, in the official voter guide1
However, subsequent emails Levy exchanged with an Oakland resident — obtained by Oakland Report — raise questions about the factual basis for Levy’s claim.
In the email exchange, the resident asked Levy to provide data to prove his campaign statement in the Voter Information Guide about “lowering tax rates for most homeowners.”
In response, Levy conceded — after his endorsement in the Voter Information Guide had already been published and mailed to voters — that he doesn’t know whether the so-called ‘expiring’ tax, the Police and Fire Retirement System (“PFRS”) tax, would actually decrease or expire next year.2
Levy wrote:
“I am in the middle of analyzing all of this.... I am trying to figure out if it [the PFRS tax] will decrease next year.”
– Alameda County Treasurer Henry Levy, in an email to an Oakland resident, May 5.
The resident responded:
“It’s surprising that the campaign for E publishes a firm quote from you while you indicate here that it is still an open question.... You state on campaign literature that Measure E will ‘lower tax rates for a majority of homeowners.’”
– Oakland resident [name redacted for per our confidentiality policy], in an email to Henry Levy, May 5.
Levy replied that supporters of Measure E were “saying” the PFRS tax would retire this year. Notably, he did not state that he knew this to be true, nor did he provide any evidence supporting the claim. Instead, Levy stated that he is “in the middle of… trying to figure out” whether his endorsement claim is actually true.
Levy further admitted:
“This conversation suggests to me that I should ask the Assessor for a breakdown of the frequency of assessed values to better understand how many people would end up paying more under the Measure E flat tax proposal than what they are paying now for the Police and Fire [PFRS] bond, whether it is completely retired or not.”
– Alameda County Treasurer Hank Levy, in an email to an Oakland resident
Levy’s statements suggest that key public claims used to promote Measure E — such as that it will “lower taxes for most homeowners” — were made before the underlying facts had been verified.
Read this related article:
‘No responsive documents’
The concerns deepen in light of a Public Records Act request from another Oakland resident seeking documents supporting Levy’s assertions.
According to Alameda County’s response, no responsive documents existed.
When questioned further, County representatives replied that any related communications would not constitute public records because Levy may have been acting in his “private capacity” — despite invoking his official title in the published endorsement.
Taken together, these events raise additional questions about transparency and accountability from public officials — and whether Oakland voters and taxpayers were misled by public supporters of Measure E with unsupported assumptions rather than verified facts.
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County of Alameda. “Voter information guide: statewide direct primary election, Tuesdau, June 2, 2026.” Alameda County Registrar of Voters, May 2026. https://acvote.alamedacountyca.gov/acvote-assets/02_election_information/PDFs/20260602/VIG/june022026vigeng.pdf
There is no language in the actual text of Measure E that states that another tax is “expiring,” nor any language in the measure’s text that states it would “lower tax rates for most homeowners.” In fact, Measure E’s estimated $34 million per year in new parcel taxes would be in addition to, not replacing Oakland’s existing ‘public safety’ parcel tax, Measure NN, approved by voters in 2024 on promises that the money would be used to save and enhance ‘public safety.’ See also:
Perhaps Hank should put out a public clarification and get ahead of the media frenzy that this admission deserves? @Hank?
WOW, this is bad. Thank you Oakland Report. So I read this as either:
A) Levy did not do research on whether this was true before agreeing to endorse, or
B) the Yes on E campaign is using his face + a quote in a misleading way and he doesn't want to "out" them
Either is extremely alarming and I think Oaklanders need to send a strong signal to our electeds that this isn't going to cut it anymore.
Also, since Levy mentioned that he would create a blog post (as of email 10 days ago), I went to his blog/website, and don't see anything posted since Dec 2025, unless I'm missing something.
https://treasurer.acgov.org/treasurer-blog/