If the Taxpayers Federation gets its way, we can be just like California
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s Maureen Bader is inciting a tax revolt for municipal taxpayers. If she gets her way, maybe we can be just like California.
Last Friday the Globe and Mail published an article in their business section outlining how Los Angeles area apartment owners in the mid 1970s financed a campaign against municipal taxes. That was the infamous Proposition 13 which rolled back and capped residential and commercial property taxes. It required local voters to approve all municipal tax increases.
Since that time the State of California took over the funding of schools from property taxation. Like many other states California is also barred by legislation from running an operating deficit.
The net result? California is looking at a $19 billion funding shortfall this year and a $37 billion shortfall next year. California’s schools were once considered the best in the country but are now dead last in student/teacher ratios. The State may have to seek a bail out from the federal government.
You can read the article here.
California was once a dynamic leader in the United States famous for its education system. Now it has become the Greece of the American states. Maybe those Los Angeles Landlords, and Maureen Bader, should be careful what they wish for.
Topics: Municipalities, Taxes
