California voters

[vvvexation]

I've mostly figured out how I'm voting on Tuesday, but I'm still undecided on Props. 1A, 61, and 63. Anyone want to argue me into a position on those?

Comments

[ef2p.livejournal.com]

I should take a step back here. When Prop 13 passed I was too young to know what government was let alone anything else. So I really don't have any right to say anything about that election.

Given that, I do think prop 13 gives the wealth and business an unfair tax advantage. Business and the Wealthy tend not to move as often as the average family. Therefore there property tax basis does not reflect the value of their property. HP, Lockheed, FMC, Century theaters..... have all owned the same property for the last 20+ years. How many times have you moved in that amount of time?

I also know that prop 13 has had many unexpected consequences on the California budget. We are the worlds 6th largest economy, but we are in the last 10% of states on school funding.

What I do want to do is look at all the consequences of current bills before I vote for (or against) them. Somebody payed a lot of money to get those proposition on the ballet, and I don't trust the motives of money. I am distrustful of most legislation, therefore I want to look at in ways that are not covered in the voter info guide.

Now the side effect. There is a reason the state takes everybody's school taxes and distributes then evenly (per student) across the state. I grew up in Los Gatos, I understand that I was privileged. I remember my parents going to my elementary school on weekends to fix it up (repaint walls, wash windows, replace broken lights...). I can also imagine that there are schools out their where the parents don't have this time or money to do so. But even more important, I can imagine what those schools would be like if their funding was equivalent to the local tax base.

From what I understand, prop 1A doesn't effect schools. But it does effect other vital community services. By forcing tax money to stay local, you are preventing the state from being able to re-allocate spending based on need. I have no reason to believe that the state is doing this now, however this bill will prevent them from doing that in the future.

I live in East Palo Alto. My back fence is the EPA-Menlo Park boarder. Palo Alto is less than 1/2 mile from me. I see a great difference in the quality of the houses, the streets, the attitude in that short difference. I am worried that this bill will just make it worse.

I'm still not sure how I'm voting on 1A. But there is something that just feels weird to me about it. This is one of the things I came up with.