A tax revolt almost as momentous as the Boston Tea Party erupted in California in 1978. Its reverberations are still being felt, yet no one is quite sure what general lessons can be drawn from observing its course. this book is an in-depth study of this most recent and notable taxpayer's rebellion: Howard Jarvis and Proposition 13, the Gann measure of 1979, and Proposition (Jarvis II) of 1980.
A tax revolt almost as momentous as the Boston Tea Party erupted in California in 1978. Its reverberations are still being felt, yet no one is quite sure what general lessons can be drawn from observing its course. This book is an in-depth study of this most recent and notable taxpayers' rebellion: Howard Jarvis and Proposition 13, the Gann measure of 1979, and Proposition 9 (Jarvis II) of 1980. The people of California, speaking directly through referenda, redirected their state from an intense and expensive concern for the welfare of its citizens to a far more circumspect role. The sequence involved cutting property taxes, limiting tax growth, and then rejecting a state income tax cut. Why did Californians vote to lower some taxes and not others? How fundamental is the American disposition toward tax revolt? Will it happen again? The authors consider a variety of partial answers: the self-interest of certain groups, the apathy of others, the role of party affiliation, the specter of symbolic racism, the meaning of mass mood surges. The interplay between class politics and symbolic protest embodied in the California Tax Revolt has since spread to other states--for example, Proposition 21/2 in Massachusetts, which lowered property taxes--and has reached the federal level. President Reagan, with Republican and conservative Democrat support, has enacted major spending cuts and long-range tax relief. The new revolutionary strand in the fabric of the American political culture appears to be strong.
In Spring 1983 the Los Angeles Times set out to produce is own "State of the State" report, five years after the passage of the notorious and widely imitated Proportion 13. Price Waterhouse and the Times poll conducted an immense survey of both the public and private sector. A team of eighteen specialist reports looked into every area of public service: police and fire protection, roads and public works, parks, public health, libraries, schools, and more. The results, published in a nine0part series in June 1983, remain by far the most up-to-date synthesis of what, for better and worse, the 1970s tax revolt has achieved. The original Time reports is here supplemented by an introductory essay placing hte California revolt in national context, comparing it with later, parallel actions in other states, notably Massachusetts, and placing all these actions in illuminating historical perspective. A detailed statistical abstract completes the volume. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1984.
