Activist Quits Drive to End Property Taxes

Earl H. Carraway, a mortgage banker from Laguna Hills, failed in his bid to put an initiative on the state’s November ballot that sought to eliminate property taxes, he said Wednesday.

Carraway’s idea “scared the devil” out of schoolteachers, bureaucrats and anyone who makes a living on the public payroll, he said.

Carraway, who began his effort last November, had until Wednesday to gather 693,000 signatures of registered voters to qualify the initiative for the statewide ballot. But he became so overwhelmed by adverse reaction from voters that he didn’t collect any signatures, he said.

If property taxes were abolished, counties, cities, schools, special districts and redevelopment agencies throughout the state would lose about $20 billion in revenue, according to the state’s legislative analyst office.

Carraway said he believed the $20 billion saved by taxpayers would have helped pump up the state’s sagging economy.

The activist, who ran the campaign alone, used a World Wide Web site to help conduct his campaign, which he dubbed “The Quiet Crusade.”