Readers React: The great tax debate

We should have seen this coming: In a June 8 Op-Ed article, UCLA economist Ivo Welch called California’s tax code “stupid” and suggested dumping Proposition 13; readers who have benefited from low property taxes objected; Welch responded to a reader on The Times’ letters page; another reader complained about Proposition 13’s unfairness to younger homeowners; and the debate among our letter writers continued for weeks after Welch’s Op-Ed article ran.

Since that last letter from a younger homeowner was published last week, about a dozen responses have trickled in, recasting the discussion from one about sound tax policy to determining what’s fair generationally. Consider the letters below as closing the debate sparked by Welch’s piece (for now).

Los Angeles resident Donald Jaffe suggests the young don’t know how good they have it:

We bought our home a few years before Proposition 13 passed in 1978. As a young family with three schoolchildren, we had to budget carefully to meet our mortgage, property tax and insurance obligations.

When property values and taxes started to spike, we found ourselves in the position of possibly no longer being able to afford our home. Proposition 13 made it so we could budget for property taxes.

As for young homeowners having to subsidize us older homeowners, even though our grandchildren are out of school, we’re still paying taxes for their children’s education. Be careful what you wish for; you’ll be old someday.

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Tom Moore of Santa Ana says Proposition 13 serves a greater political purpose:

Proposition 13 aligned the economic interests of the politicians with the economic interest of citizens. Before, citizens had to pay an ever-increasing amount of tax regardless of the state of the economy. Now, if the politicians let the economy tank, we have to pay tax only on our decreased income.

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Carlsbad resident Ed King says you don’t have to be young to be mobile:

When we purchased our first home in Pasadena, with Proposition 13 in effect, the taxes we paid exceeded those of our “old” neighbors. As our family and needs grew, we would move, and each time we paid more tax than our “old” neighbors.

Still, we never felt cheated or believed that our taxes were subsidizing services for the “old.” Proposition 13 protected us from unpredictable tax bills.

Now, we are the “old” ones, but we are still paying more in taxes than our neighbors. After retirement, we moved to Carlsbad to be closer to our family. We paid more for our home than our neighbors, most of whom are in their 30s and 40s.