Arizona needs limits on property taxes
The time has come for Arizona property owners to band together to put an end to the incessant property tax increases by borrowing a page from the California playbook of 1978.
California property taxes were out of control, because spendthrift politicians had found a surefire way to balance their bloated budgets on the backs of property owners.
Two gentlemen, Paul Gann and Howard Jarvis, started a petition drive and placed Proposition 13 on the ballot.
On June 6, 1978, California voters passed Proposition 13 by a landslide. It cut property taxes to 1 percent of full cash value of such property and limited the growth rate to 2 percent.
It was the Boston Tea Party, California-style. Taxpayers stood up and said “enough already.”
Robert Stevens
North side
Two more reasons to back Prop. 123
Re: the May 6 guest opinion “Prop. 123 is a necessary 1st step of many.”
As a follow-up to Jason Freed’s op-ed in support of Prop. 123, I add two more reasons to vote yes:
1. Former Justice Stanley Feldman said, in his April 29 opinion urging a no vote, that we “should fight it out in the courts.” The Legislature has ignored the courts in the past.
What enforcement mechanism do the courts have over the Legislature? Hold the legislators in contempt of court? And do they dare, given that the Legislature allocates money to the courts? Feldman’s argument is not realistic.
2. The 49 percent spending cap does not apply to Prop. 301 sales tax money.
Phineas Anderson
Catalina
Lions are being killed so man can hunt sheep
Re: the May 7 article “Another lion killed in Catalina for preying on bighorn.”
I can no longer turn the other cheek regarding the Game and Fish Department’s rationale for killing mountain lions.
Is everyone aware of the reason Game and Fish has transplanted bighorn sheep in the first place? So man can eventually hunt them for sport. They don’t want lions hunting them out of necessity.
Sarah Simpson
Foothills
