California's anti-tax crusaders talk revolt

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Taking inspiration from a landmark 1970s tax revolt, a determined group of activists say the moment is right for another voter uprising in California, where recession-battered residents have been hit with the highest income and sales tax rates in the nation.

And like Proposition 13, the 1978 ballot measure that transformed the state's political landscape and ignited tax-reform movements nationwide, they see the next backlash coming not from either major political party, but from the people.

If the anti-tax crusaders can galvanize voter discontent, they hope to roll back the latest tax hikes, impose permanent, iron-clad spending caps on Sacramento lawmakers and make the issue central in the 2010 gubernatorial election.

"There's a lot of latent anger boiling to the surface out there," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a group named after the California anti-tax crusader who spearheaded Prop 13.

An angry mob of thousands converged on an Orange County parking lot in southern California on a recent Saturday morning for an anti-tax protest, stunning even the organizers with the size of the turnout. It was just one in a series of public demonstrations that have cropped up around the state.

Thanks for your response.

The disconnect in our dialogue is that you are looking at this revolt on a much broader basis than I am. As background, you should know that Jon Coupal and the HJTA are the only official group that is organizing opposition to Prop 1A, an intiative on the ballot of a Special Election scheduled for May 19. (See page 2 of article for more specifics). As such, California's "tax revolt," being fueled in editorial pages and local talk radio, is more directed than some of the nationwide tea parties that are being organized. It is directed largely at Sacramento vs. Washington D.C.

You commented:

Politics in America has always been ethnic, religious, and racial. Massachusetts Catholics vote their religion on behalf the Teddy Kennedy. New York Jews vote their religion on behalf of Mayor Koch. African-Americans vote their race on behalf of Barak Obama. That is the principal way the electorate gets sliced and diced by the Democrat party. That explains much of the politics in California today. To deny that reality is to become ineffective in the real world of politics.

I do not disagree with that when it comes to candidates but I think it is different when it comes to initiatives. That was true when the African American community overwhelmingly backed Prop 8 last fall, a constitutional amendment defining marriage. And that is also the case today -- many from all backgrounds are seen coming together on the issue of taxes. The legislature has enacted approximately $15 billion in tax increases (income taxes, sales taxes, car taxes) for a period of approximately 2 years. The initiative, if passed, will extend those taxes for another 2 years (to the tune of an additional $18 billion dollars). These taxes effect Californians -- everyone gets hit. So I don't think that ethnicity, race or religion separates the electorate. And that, IMO, is the point of the headline as further explained by Jon Coupal's comment:

"Every chamber of commerce, every editorial board, every labor group, every tax-receiver group, everybody opposed Prop 13 except the voters," Coupal told Reuters. "That reflects a massive disconnect between the real people and the political elite, and that disconnect is right now as great as I've ever seen it."

I did not see a response to the intent of my initial inquiries. What I really wanted to know is where you get your information relative to California politics, what sources you rely on in forming your opinions and/or whether it is based on personal observations from the ground, or elsewhere. I don't mean that to discount your posts and I only ask because there is so much propaganda and liberal media around here it is really difficult to sift out the truth. But... if you don't want to discuss that, it's o.k. too.

I get my information about California right here on Free Republic. Scarcely a day passes without at least one article on the plight of the state. I concede that my level of information does not get down into the short grass that you are talking about but I am generally informed about the adventures des Arnolds and the various referenda and court interventions.

I got a run to rehabilitation now to pump Eisen before I get bawled out out in German. Ich darf keine Verspätung haben.

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