The Permanent Tax Revolt by Isaac William Martin

Author:Isaac William Martin [Martin, Isaac William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9780804763172
Google: Rc4ZDgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2008-03-05T05:26:19+00:00

How Direct Democracy Mattered

These three stories illustrate that Proposition 13 was a turning point in the tax revolt, and the institution of direct democracy is the key to explaining why. Proposition 13 fever caught on, not because the details of the legislation were especially popular or even very widely understood, but because of the fact that it had passed by ballot initiative. The popular vote ratified it as a politically winnable goal.

Would the tax revolt have turned right without direct democracy? It is certainly likely that some states would have acted to limit taxes. Six states had already passed property tax limits in the decade before Proposition 13. But many more states had also passed liberal forms of property tax relief. The distinctive change after 1978 was that the movement as a whole united behind a single, conservative solution to the crisis—and this would not have happened without Proposition 13.

The true test is comparative. Britain once again provides an excellent test case. Unlike the California tax revolt, the Scottish ratepayers’ rebellion of 1985 and 1986 did not have direct access to the ballot. And there the movement did not unite behind a demand for any particular tax policy, even when it spread beyond Scotland’s borders into England and Wales. Instead of turning right, the British taxpayers’ rebellion turned left.

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