Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman recently wrote an article attacking California’s so-called Tax Revolt of 1978, California’s Proposition 13. He claims that if California is the trend setter, than the U.S. is in deep trouble. I agree, and have agreed for most of my politically aware life, especially since I am a product of California’s senseless butchering of the education system.
Nobody likes paying taxes. It’s about as fun as paying rent (or mortgage), bills and getting a colonoscopy. That being said, these are all the painful things we need to do to stay a float in life and there is little any of us can do about them.
California Republicans thought otherwise. They used an issue that was sure to win: telling California they could have lower taxes and everything would be all right. That’s like promising people they can lose weight and eat all that they want. Sadly people fall for that one too!
Ignoring reality, listening to the advice of hucksters like Ronald Reagan, Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann, California passed Proposition 13 in 1978. It cut taxes primarily for apartment building owners among other large real estate holders like the railroad corporations. Housing owners got a break too, although much not as significant. Most of the Middle-Class that benefited were older home owners (who tend to be wealthier anyway). The rich made out like bandits fooling the naïve middle class. They got what they wanted and ended the proper funding of California’s top notch school system. Why? So they could have even more money in their greedy pockets.
California schools used to be the best in the U.S. Not only do the statistics back this up, I have heard that said from people I know, Liberals and even Conservative commentator Tony Blankley, who tried to claim that Prop 13 was good, ironically. Blankley argued that we don’t get what we pay for so we shouldn’t pay for it, even though it was Prop 13 that made our schools fall toward the bottom of the U.S. On this, I know first hand. By the time the 90s rolled around my teachers had to buy their own chalk, computers were 10 years old and classes were full to the brim with 40+ students in every class. Music, arts, sciences all were cut to the point that they barely existed and violence, apathy and vandalism all escalated by the time I graduated.
I grew up much more politically aware than many of my peers, which made me hate Prop. 13 and the Republican dominated government that followed. Teachers complained bitterly about Governors Deukmejian and Wilson constantly, many protested outside the school, even strikes were frequent.
Still nothing was done. The aging population in California had no kids in school. So they didn’t see the problems. They kept the Republicans in office until the late 90s when the state began to grow broke and the bitter aged began to retire and move away or die off. The richest most populated state in the union and it was going broke. Great Job Republicans!
Education was only one major casualty. The emergency trauma centers began to go broke and shut down. The prison populations, a direct result of improperly funded education, swelled. Republicans were strong advocates of jailing, filling up the prisons and building new ones. The police were well funded and soon eclipsed education spending. Fire fighters were even cut and Republican counties like San Diego soon found out the consequences of that (the fire 2 years ago claimed over 10,000 homes).
The Republicans began to advocate legalized gambling. Californians however, had enough. Republican numbers began to shrink as the only power they had left was holding up the 2/3rds budget rule in the legislature, refusing to back any budget with tax increases for the wealthy despite the fact that even Warren Buffet advocated higher taxes for the rich and he was one of them. They still hold that power today despite their decreasing power in the legislature, they continue to drag this state down the drain.
Then last Tuesday, California rejected Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget plans. Republican Newt Gingrich championed the success of Prop. 13 and called it a reaffirmation of the infamous Tax Revolt. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
The truth is the Republican Party in this state and likely the country is all but finished. They keep talking about the same old tired issues like taxes and it doesn’t play well anymore. They have grown suspicious of governing by proposition, a policy that was pushed heavily by Republican Pete Wilson. The Right/Left/Center advocacy groups give Californians a list propositions to research and they’re simply tired of it. The policy of the California voter is to vote No on anything they don’t understand.
Term limits, another Republican baby as well, have made the California legislature a room full of amateurs, which in turn makes the state ungovernable.
All of these Republican issues have destroyed California. The state that Reagan built is crumbling into dust. The rich in this state pay less in tax percentage than the middle class. Californias pay less in real estate taxes than most Republican states, in particular Texas.
It’s time for the greedy rich to pay their fair share or risk the state going down the drain. It’s time the whiny middle-class to step up to the plate as well. If they don’t the state will be bankrupt within 20 years.
It’s time for California to face reality. We need a strong state with a top notch government that serves the people is not a waste of money. Having a half-assed education, corrections, fire, police and health-care system is.
