What has happened in the mean time is that the vast majority of the benefits of Prop 13 now go to businesses who turnover their property even less often than seniors. Especially since they have come up with clever loopholes that allow them to transfer the property to new owners without it being registered as a property transfer requiring a reappraisal.
Also, in the mean time the Democrats have been busy rewriting the tax laws so that state taxes go to localities and local taxes go to the state. Likewise for fees. It has become a total fustercluck.
It is no coincidence that 1/3 + 1 of the legislators are Republican. If the 2/3rd's requirement hadn't been stuck in with the rest of Prop 13 then 1/2 + 1 of the legislators would be Republican. That is because as soon as the Democrats had started raising taxes as much as they wanted, they would have been ousted by sensible citizens.
The 2/3rd requirement sounds like a good idea in the short run, but how has it helped over the long run?
Do you really believe that our state taxes would have been raised to 20-30% to pay for all the bloated government salaries and pensions with no response from the electorate?
Some Californians are truly stupid and/or selfish, but the majority are still reasonable.
California is going down the tube partly because of all of the Propositions that require certain funds be spent on certain programs, and tie the hands of the legislators so they can't respond, and don't have to take responsibility for, what's going on.
We pass laws to put more people in jail, but don't spend the money necessary to build sufficient space.
We get all gooey-eyed over police and firemen and give them a blank check, then wonder why we're billions in debt.
We have relatively lower property taxes, but our sales tax is now at or above 10%.
Republicans may think they're being smart by opposing this tax increase over here, or that bond issue over there. In the end its just a pointless game of whack-a-mole as the bureaucrats and Democrats find more ways to increase fees and adjust our taxes upwards.
And over time as Republicans lower taxes and regulations for particular cities, more and more power is ceded to the state. Good going!
The only solution is good government where we pay our bills as we go. Hike my taxes to 50% to fully fund all the promises we made, or break those promises now. The people need to feel the pain if they are ever going to be disabused of the notion that government services can be had for free.
Prop 13 was passed for every property owner, not just seniors. Or it would have been written for just seniors.
My father was a personal friend with Howard Jarvis. Jarvis wasn’t a politician, just a businessman who realized the ONLY way to constrain government was by cutting off their ability to raise more and more money.
Without the 2/3 requirement, by now who knows what would have occured.
It benefits every property owner to be able to predict their property taxes, and not to have them jacked up 30 or 40 percent on a whim, like some other states.
Has Jarvis’ measure done everything it intended. Not by a long shot.
But his premise was dead on the money, and it would be beyond foolhardy to give up the 2/3 requirement.
The last thing Sacramento needs is for it to become easier to raise taxes.
Sacramento needs to cut, cut, cut. Cut some more. Cut headcounts, cut base pay, cut pensions, cut benefits, and then cut some more.
Cities and school districts likewise.