Finishing Strong
Jeffrey Pu
The momentum just keeps building for us here at Evolve. Thanks to the overwhelming support of our members, we've built a local grassroots network of activists in school boards and city councils from San Francisco all the way down to San Diego that have passed our resolution calling for Prop. 13 reform. We're ending the year on a high note with 40 school boards and city councils that have passed the Close the Loophole Resolution! Having this many local elected bodies pass our resolution in just a few short months ensures that we can hit the ground running in 2014. We're ecstatic over the great success that we've had so far, and are excited to kick-off the next phase of our campaign.
As we are all aware, loopholes in Prop. 13 have shifted California's tax burden onto the backs of homeowners and individuals. While we pay the highest income and sales taxes in the country, Chevron is being undertaxed by nearly $1 billion each year. All the while, education funding has been utterly decimated, with California falling to 49th in the country in per-pupil spending. Prop. 13 was passed to protect homeowners, not give large corporations a $6 billion tax break at the expense of our schools, which were once the envy of the nation. With savings like that, you can be sure that corporations like Chevron and Disney will spend whatever it takes to stop us.
Reforming Prop. 13 has never been the safe political move, but it is the right move for California. We've come a long way since we started this campaign, and as long as we can continue to organize our grassroots supporters, we won't be stopping anytime soon.