California Libertarian Alliance

For several years writers at the Los Angeles Times have been promoting the story line that the financial problems of California’s government can be traced to one thing – Proposition 13 and its limits on property taxes that California residents and business owners must pay. This despite the fact that property taxes collected by the state and county governments in California today are many times higher than the amount collected when Proposition 13 was passed. Unmentioned is the massive expansion of state government spending to benefit special interests and to pay excessive salaries to California government employees.

Most recently Steve Lopez ran a column praising Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa for his “bravery” in calling for a modification of Proposition 13 – see his column @ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0710-lopez-mayoronprop13-20110710,0,3252606.column

I have sent an email to Steve Lopez on the subject, and I reprint here for public viewing:
Mr Lopez,

Last Sunday I saw once again you had a column blaming Proposition 13 for California’s financial problems. You referred to Mayor Villaraigosa as brave because he has called for modifying or ending Proposition 13.

I know that you, George Skelton, Michael Hitzik and other writers for the Los Angeles Times have written about how Proposition 13 deprives the state government of needed revenue. Why do you only write, when you can actually do something about it right now?

You can legally request that the Los Angeles County Assessor’s office re-appraise your house, so that you can pay more up to date taxes. You can hire a private appraisser to re-appraise your house, then you can voluntarily send the extra amount to the state and county governments.

If that is too much trouble, you can with a calculator figure out what 2% or 3% of the value of your home would be, and send that amount to the tax collector. You can do all this even as you continue to write in favor of forcing other Californians to pay more.

Are you going to do any of these? If not, why not? If you don’t volunarily send more money to the state of California, why should anyone believe you when you say that California needs more revenue from its property tax?

I am sure Mr Skelton and Mr Hitzik own their own homes. You can suggest to them that they send in a higher amount voluntarily when they pay their property tax.

Even better: the Los Angeles Times probably owns much more property than you, Mr Skelton and Mr Hitzik combined. You can suggest to Sam Zell that the Tribune Corporation ask to have the Times properties re-appraised so that your employer can pay higher property taxes. Of course Mr Zell will need permission from the bankruptcy Judge to undertake this effort, even as it is much needed by the state of California.

Of course, the question remains why anyone should consider a newspaper in bankruptcy a good source of advice on fiscal policy.

I do notice that you never talk to an ordinary California property owner who might rely on Proposition 13 to keep their house affordable. You never talk to a small business owner who might want to have a predictable cost of his property to plan his business operations. Maybe you don’t know a small business owner in such a situation.

I own my own book shop in Riverside, one of only two locally owned book shops in this city. I sell books to high school and college students that they need for their classes, and I sell to people who just want to learn things or be entertained. If Proposition 13 is modified, I will have to close my business. That will be your contribution to the decline of literacy Mr Lopez.

I used to admire your writing, when Bush was President and you opposed the Iraq War. I now have no respect for you or your lack of journalistic ethics, when you present a totally one-sided propaganda campaign in favor of taking – stealing – from the productive people of California, and giving the money to wasteful and dishonest politicians.

I have read the Los Angeles Times for many years, since about 1972. It was a great paper. It is clearly in decline now, and the poisonous pro-government propaganda from Mr Skelton, Mr Hitzik and you are a reflection of that decline. The one sign of life at the Times was the expose of the Bell City government, and you seem to have learned nothing from that.

Have you looked at the fact that the California state goverment takes in much more revenue from property taxes now than at the time Prop. 13 was passed? There have been many sales of homes and business properties in the state, leading to re-assessment and higher taxes on higher property values. The big run-up in real estate prices during the recent bubble not only has lead to significant increases in property taxes throughout California, but also gave the state much revenue from the 3% sales tax on sales of real estate. You have not ever made reference to these facts in your column.

If you would ever like to let your readers know there is another side to this, you can call me at Renaissance Book Shop – (951) 369-8843 between 12:00 noon and 7:30 PM Monday through Saturday. Or you can visit me at 3772 Elizabeth Street, in Riverside, and see what will be lost if you have your way and Prop 13 goes away.

I will candidly say that if the Los Angeles Times does not emerge from Bankruptcy, I will not miss your column.

Sincerely,

Gene Berkman

Update: Steve Lopez sent this very thoughtful response to my message:

“I’d remind you that we’re only talking about adjustments that would lead to a more equitable system of revenue stability, with service benefits to all, with no intention of putting anyone out of house or business. But why should I bother wasting time on a dialogue with someone who insults me, my colleagues and the paper, with generalized nonsensical blather about our pro-government missions?”