Proposition 13, the initiative that limited property tax increases, is blamed by liberals as one of the root causes of California’s current budget problems. It’s not.
The San Diego Union ran an editorial detailing what has happened to property tax revenues to the state since the passage of Proposition 13:
From fiscal 1980-81 – the year Proposition 13 took effect – through 2005-06, property tax revenue skyrocketed from $6.4 billion to $38.3 billion. That is an increase of more than 500 percent. So much for talk that the measure turned off the property tax spigot.
Remember this when our legislature complains that they don’t have enough money, or that they need to increase taxes to balance the budget. They don’t. They need to cut spending, and eliminate programs that California neither needs nor should have. The time for smoke and mirror has past; it’s time to cut politically expedient and popular programs.