39: Easier Tax Hikes, Local Decision-Making

* Re "Cutting Through the Campaign Fog Obscuring Prop. 39," Oct. 30: George Skelton and those wonderfully altruistic "Silicon Valley high-tech moguls" behind Prop. 39 think it should be easier for school districts to force higher property taxes on every California homeowner. But shouldn't a proposition to scrap an existing law requiring two-thirds of voters to approve of tax increases be required to pass by at least a two-thirds majority itself? Allowing as few as 50.1% of voters to decree that future tax hikes can be rammed through with only 55% approval is not only morally wrong, it is criminally absurd. If the public pickpockets pushing Prop. 39 try to enact this massive tax hike with less than a 66% majority, I hope that a more Libertarian-minded mogul will step forward to bankroll a Supreme Court fight against it. Otherwise, all of us fed-up, taxed-to-death, middle-class non-moguls will get stuck with flushing away more of our money in taxes again.

JAMES DAWSON
Woodland Hills