It's not the heat, it's the stupidity was one of my favorite bumper stickers from New Orleans. But as the cartoon states, it's actually ignorance that is the problem. Poobah has a nice post about how willful ignorance (in the form of California state proposition 13) is bringing the Great State of California to its knees. Ironically, despite California's budget woes, other states insist on stumbling down the same path. The piped piper of lower taxes is just too strong.
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Polled today by LA Times says Left Coasters want a Constitutional Convention. Boy that would be interesting.
Further, when asked:
These provisons which became law as a result of Prop 13 ate STILL strongly favored by a huge majority:
Property tax limits at 2% of assessment.
2/3rds vote required for bond measure passage or tax increases on ballot.
2/3 vote of legislature for a budget to be adopted.
It gets worse, but you get the idea.
My folks bought a house in San Diego in the early 1970's. Their property taxes are less than a third of mine, but their home is worth 5 times as much.
You can't run any state services when you eliminate that much tax revenue.
Revenue for the state has gone up in real dollars since the passage of Prop 13. If they hadn't increased spending faster than inflation and faster than revenue growth, they wouldn't have any problems.
Related note: You could fire every government employee in the state and it would not have covered the budget gap last year. That tells you that the benefits to the citizens are what have to be cut.
Ya, I was shocked when I heard that about the budget.
The budget issue is an interesting way of putting it as is the increase in revenue greater than inflation. Fact is, state is broke, system in place is so unweildy as to make rectification impossible.
Prop 13 was about a lot more than property tax. (See corporate taxes, etc.)The population that exploded after its passage isn't explained by inflation pacing and no one I know in the state wants state employees fired now or services cut. It is what it is now, maybe you and I didn't get it there, but someone has to follow this elephant in the parade. Revenue is the answer and a cap on services if the people will agree to it...by a 2/3rds vote.
The trouble is actually getting that 2/3's vote.
Indeeed, therin lies the problem.
You need two thirds to do almost everything...I thought a majority was enough to protect the oppositions rights...apparently not.
The real purpose of requiring the 2/3rds vote is to insure gridlock since its practically impossible to get. I recall at the time it passed, the 2/3 vote requirement was seen as the closest thing the law had to banishing any new taxes.
You remember correctly. The point was to not allow any new spending, taxes, bonds, whatever...it may have reined in some of the craziness of the time, but it is impractical in the current cricumstances.
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