The media seems to be salivating over comments Jerry made about Prop 13.  But for those of us who take threats to Prop 13 very, very seriously, we prefer to digest and parse what was actually said.

First, Jerry Brown did NOT say he wanted to repeal Prop 13 or anything close to that.  In fact, he said that Prop 13 is not the problem.  His point was that state government consolidated its power (to the detriment of local governments) after Prop 13.  It is our view that Prop 13 did not cause this and we have several arguments in support of our position.  (As it relates to education spending, the Serrano series of court opinions was the primary — if not sole — cause of transferring power to Sacramento).

But if Jerry wants to talk about giving locals more control, that is a worthy discussion.  Many fiscal conservatives — ourselves included — are a bit more sympathetic to local governments than we are to the state.  It is a tenet of conservative political philosophy to divest political power to that level closest to the People, assuming it can be accomplished effectively.  (i.e., Alpine County has no business having a Navy).

The media is way over-playing this.  They would love a story that says Jerry is taking on Prop 13.  But Jerry is not stupid.  Voters rejected Prop 1A and, more recently, rejected a modest tax proposal for parks as well as rejecting an effort to repeal special corporate tax breaks.  In this environment, even the most committed statist would conclude that a direct attack on Prop 13 would make Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg look like military genius.

For now, we continue to wait to see his plan.  Of course, if he seeks to give locals more taxing authority, the gloves come off.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 4th, 2011 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.