Don’t Blame Prop. 13

Longtime Proposition 13 basher George Skelton is at it again (“Fight to Fill Revenue Hole From Prop. 13 Continues After 26 Years,” Capitol Journal, July 12).

Skelton claims the feud between state and local officials over property tax proceeds is a legacy of Prop. 13. But this is like saying two dogs fight over a bone because the cat made them do it.

Both local and state governments want more, and if they had more they would still want more.

We know this because they already have more -- California governments at all levels, even after allowing for inflation and population growth, have more money than they did before the passage of Prop. 13. And increases in property tax revenues have increased nearly 8% per year since Prop. 13 was approved in 1978.

Some have blamed Prop. 13 for the way in which property taxes are allocated, but Prop. 13 is not culpable here either. The measure said that property taxes would be distributed “according to law,” and the law has always been that the state had the ultimate authority over property-tax allocation.

Jon Coupal

President

Howard Jarvis

Taxpayers Assn.

Sacramento

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Skelton did an excellent job of telling the saga of Prop. 13 and the ongoing struggle for funding local governments. However, I wish he had mentioned two additional factors that are part of the state/local finance puzzle.

First is the passage of Prop. 98 in 1988, later amended by Prop. 111, which requires a specific level of funding for schools, resulting in the ongoing scenario of the state shifting money from cities and counties to school districts.

Second, there is no mention of the Legislature’s inability, or unwillingness, to plug loopholes that give breaks to programs that are never reviewed to see if they are still viable.

The hands of local governments, especially counties, are tied when it comes to generating revenue. Under Prop. 13, it must be the state’s responsibility to see that basic health and human services are provided to all in California.

Jean F. Cohen

Los Angeles

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Local governments, rather than complaining to the state to give them money California doesn’t have, should push for a repeal of Prop. 13.

This would go a long way toward fixing California’s fiscal problems.

Jason Platt

Whittier