Over the weekend, the authors of California Crackup (a worthy read, by the way), penned an op-ed in the Bee about Prop 13. It wasn't my traditional attack on Prop 13, but more of a "stuck in a rut" argument against it.
And here's a final irony: Nearly every proposal to realign local-state responsibilities, with the exception of Brown's redevelopment plan, leaves the central pillars of this system in place.
Real realignment requires a total unwinding of this system - and a return to the pre-Prop. 13 rule that local governments should themselves decide on the taxes for the programs they fund.
Ask yourself: Would county boards grant lavish retirement benefits to public workers if they had to raise the tax rate to pay for them - and then defend it to voters? Would city councils approve lavish redevelopment subsidies if they had to justify the tax increase to pay for them?
In the jargon of computer programmers, the Prop. 13 operating system is an endless loop. We are all living in the crash.(SacBee)
I suggest a read of the entire piece, but don't worry, there are plenty of folks to stand up for the status quo. Joel Fox responds by remembering how awful property taxes were, though he doesn't seem to have quite as sharp of a memory for the budgetary stability back before Prop 13.
Prop 13 made the business of government just ridiculously hard. It made representative democracy useless, and left us to the wolves of direct democracy in an era of a changing media landscape. Great for FoxNews, not so great for good governance.
If Brown is successful in getting the budget passed, he might bring a temporary reprieve. However, it is on the backs of those who can least afford it. Meanwhile Prop 13 and its progenitors don't even allow localities to decide for themselves how to run their communities. If we are to experience another California renaissance, we must do something about Prop 13.
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