The next time someone blames Proposition 13 for the problems of struggling governments, tell them they are using the wrong "p" word. The correct word is "pensions."

For decades, Proposition 13 has been cast as the bane of cash-strapped local government, limiting property tax revenues even as California's housing market soared. But this week, as county assessors reported rising tax bases despite the housing slump, they credited the 30-year-old law -- revealing its unexpected role as an economic stabilizer. Read the Los Angeles Times article . . .

Proposition 13, California's famous property tax limitation initiative, will be put under the microscope this week as it reaches its 30th anniversary. Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and Joel Fox, former HJTA president, teamed up to write a piece detailing the success of Prop 13 for the Los Angeles Times in response to Times Contributing Editor Bill Stall's article last week calling for a "face-lift" for Proposition 13.

You can read Stall's article here, and the Coupal-Fox article here.

Eliminate Prop. 13, and your tax bill will soar, so that government (whose workers are paid more than most of us and who enjoy pensions far in excess of what most of us receive) won't have to live within its means. Many people would soon be taxed out of their homes.

Today, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the National Taxpayer Limitation Committee and the California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights announced that they have introduced the "Taxpayer Protection Act of 2008," a ballot measure that strengthens existing laws that prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars for political activity by making it illegal for taxpayer financed organizations, such as the League of California Cities, the California State Association of Counties and the California Redevelopment Association to finance their political activities through anonymous campaign accounts.