Thirty years after its passage, Proposition 13 did the job it was intended it to do. People are secure in their homes because the property tax is controlled and state government has not been shortchanged.

Thirty years after voters ushered in the tax revolt by passing Prop. 13, it remains the third rail of California government. In the throes of the budget crisis of 2008, there was no serious talk of reforming the property tax system. Prop. 13 was opposed by the elite, supported by the masses, and...

Opponents of Prop. 13 make a political miscalculation as serious as that which conservatives did with Social Security. For 30 years, they have tried to dismantle Prop. 13, or modify it. Their efforts are as doomed as the efforts to change Social Security, because Prop. 13 is considered part of...

California’s current budget process fails to accomplish any of the goals a budget should. It does not maintain aggregate fiscal control. The budget fails to achieve allocative efficiency by targeting resources to programs that address the sectors of the state economy that would most benefit...

The budget crises of recent years have left the sense that California legislators are unwilling or unable to work together. Is public misinformation part of the problem? The Statewide Survey of the Public Policy Institute of California has repeatedly shown that most California voters have only...

Passing a workable budget is so fundamental to governance that Californians can be forgiven their disappointments and search for “reform.” But change does not have to rely on voter-ratified constitutional proposals. The California legislature could improve budgets by changing its internal...