COVERITLIVE.COM

11:59

Chris Reed - I'm here and ready to go.

12:00

[Comment From Kevin]
Hi Chris, my question is... besides your column, where can we get good info?

12:01

Chris Reed -

The Legislative Analyst's Office web site is great.

12:01

Chris Reed - http://www.lao.ca.gov/sections/econ_fiscal/Historical_Expenditures_Pivot.xls

12:01

Chris Reed - is an interactive budget tool that is easy to use.

12:02

Chris Reed -

I'll kick off with this observation: The Prop. 13 is the devil thesis falls apart when one contemplates the numbers. From 1980-81 to 2006-07, California's overall tax revenue went up 555 percent. This is a readily document fact on the LAO web site. That is far, far, far faster than the combined rate of population growth and inflation. For you or anyone to argue that inadequate revenue is a long-term problem created by Prop. 13 is just baffling. Sure, 13 is responsible for huge inequities helping those who have had property for long periods. But revenue has exploded even with these inequites. Period.

12:04

SignOnLiveChatModerator -

Chris, if Prop. 13 is not the devil, where do you place the blame for the current budget crisis?

12:06

Chris Reed - Well, the main cause is the huge plunge in revenue because of the deep recession. But even before the recession, we had a budget nightmare, with spending going up much faster than inflation and population growth. And, no, it wasn't always spending "the public wanted."

12:06

[Comment From Kevin]
Why do media (LAT, Bee, TV, etc.....) hide such information. Truly, what's in it for them? Just churning emotions to sell papers?

12:07

Chris Reed - I think there is a mind-set among the edit boards and many of the reporters at the LAT and the Sac Bee that is amazingly hospitable to a conventional wisdom that really does think the problem is the obstacles to raising taxes, not the state's inability to live within its means.

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