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Another approach has been adopted by the California-based National Tax-Limitation Committee. Its aim is to place ceilings on the spending powers of the states by amending their constitutions. This drive has been successful in Tennessee, where 65% of the voters approved it last March. Once the dust settles, if it does, from Proposition 13, the Tax-Limitation Committee will introduce an amendment in the California legislature aimed at tying state spending increases to the growth in average personal income. "We are not quixotic," contends Sacramento Lawyer Lewis Uhler, president of the committee. "We see overall tax limitation as the power of the people to shape our society and our destiny. This is going to be a long, tough, no-nonsense battle."
The taxpayer revolt has, in fact, taken a variety of forms. Other examples:
OHIO. Twice in the space of 60 days Cleveland voters rejected a hike in property taxes that would have rescued its 113,000-student public school system from bankruptcy. The margin last Tuesday was 3 to 1, an increase over the 2 to 1 April vote against the levy, which would have increased the average homeowner's tax by $86.63. As a result, there may be no money to reopen Cleveland's schools after the summer recess. The vote also reflected opposition to court-ordered busing, scheduled to go into effect next fall to correct racial imbalances, and the high-handed manner in which Federal Judge Frank J. Battisti has, in effect, taken over management of the school system. Paul Briggs, Cleveland's respected veteran school superintendent, was so stripped of power by the court that he resigned his post.
OREGON. A virtual carbon copy of Jarvis-Gann has been picking up initiative signatures and now has a good chance to make the ballot in November. It would limit the property tax to 1½% of market value, which would decrease the average homeowner's tax tab by one-third. "The measure could be very difficult to defeat," warns Robert Ridgley, recently retired chairman of the Portland public school board. He fears that the "effect on schools would be devastating." Supporters of the proposal blame the state legislature for its failure to curtail the property tax long ago. Says State Representative Al Shaw: "The legislature's attitude has been to sit tight and wait for things to blow over. Things won't blow over this time."
COLORADO. Two petition drives are under way for the November ballot. One proposal would limit increases in state and local government spending to the growth in living costs. The other would limit taxes on owner-occupied homes to either 2.5% of market value or 5% of family income, whichever is lower—giving half the homeowners in Colorado a tax cut of up to 30%. Public officials in the state scoff at the Jarvis-Gann approach. "Most screwball ideas seem to start in California," said one. But another was secretly delighted at the passage of Proposition 13. "California will be in one hell of a mess," he predicts, "and maybe some of our legislators will take notice and cut back on spending here."
ARIZONA. Partly to prevent a Proposition 13-style proposal from getting onto the November ballot, the Arizona legislature has called for a special session to overhaul its state tax structure. Contends State Representative