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Show t. Community Comments I spent the past week in one of California's largest ; cities, and it was a pretty interesting week to be in that : state. On Tuesday, over 4 million Californian's went to ; the polls to give their endorsement to crusty old : Howard Jarvis' initiative petition which constitutionally '. slashes property taxes by more than half; locks them in at that lower level, and serves notice on state , government that constantly increasing taxes will no longer be tolerated by the people. Understandably, ; state and local government in California since last week ' has been a state of near-panic. Alarmed over property tax increases which have grown so rapidly the past few years that in many cases their cost is more than mortgage ' payments, Californians pushed aside threats of mass lay-offs of public employees, closed libraries and schools, decreased police protection, curtailed school years, minimized public transit and reduced social service programs, and simply said, "that's enough. We won't take it any longer." And from the looks of things, the California taxpayer revolt is one which will sweep the nation, state by state. In Utah, for example, the fat's already in the fire, and petitions are being circulated to have a similar initiative placed on the Utah ballot for November. One official of the Utah Tax Limitation Committee stated, "The worm has finally turned. This thing is going to take off like a skyrocket." As I watched the two to one election returns pouring in on my motel room TV screen, I couldn't help I but give a cheer or two for the guy behind it all, Howard I Jarvis. An old Utahn, Howard used to publish newspapers in Price, Magna and other rural Utah towns, and was a familiar face before me even though I hadn't seen him since the late 1930's. He's riding high now, even got his picture on the cover of Time this week, and it's all because he wouldn't let his righteous indignation be curbed. Government leaders across the nation are worried about the alarming revolt, arguing that the Jarvis approach is a "meat-axe" solution, and that better ways should have been found to bring about tax relief. Maybe that's so, but to date not much in tax reform has been accomplished at any level of government. People everywhere are beginning to say, "let it be a meat-axe solution. Let the chips fall where they might, and we'll pick up the pieces and start over the right way." That feeling is understandable. Voters for years have cast their ballots for candidates who promised shallowly to trim expenses, balance budgets and cut taxes. But for one reason or a hundred, those promises were just never carried beyond election day. Hitting property taxes and local government, the way they did in California, gets the message across in a big hurry, but it if's going to have any real lasting and ; nationwide effect, it has to be carried to the federal : level. Elected public officials are going to have to take the voters seriously. They're going to have to get the government out of busy-work and trim federal payrolls to staffing levels commensurate with the private sector of the economy. If I were to staff my own office the way many local federal and quasi-federal social services offices in Grand County are staffed, I'd have to double the number of people around here with a girl behind every telephone and a clerk at every filing cabinet. In California, politicians who didn't buy the - Jarvis-initiative approach were turned out at the polls. Politicians nationwide should get the message, but unfortunately, many of them haven't. One major political figure in Utah last week stated in a public . speech that the "hand of the far right" was behind " Jarvis-Gann, and the effect of the taxpayer revolt is to i "subvert representative type government." He went on to say that the California action was "an impulsive, emotional surge that will see education, roads, libraries ; and parks suffer all the things that contribute to a good lifestyle and culture." I'm afraid that politician would have been on a voter hit-list in California, and I'm not so sure the same thing wouldn't happen to him in Utah. Office seekers had better realize that "a good ; lifestyle and culture" don't mean a heck of a lot if you ; don't have enough money left over after paying your taxes to pay your other bills. They had better realize that taxpayers are serious when they demand a limit on taxes, and the sculpturing of government services to fit available revenues. The days of the meat-axe approach to government , appear to be on us. They may well prove to be traumatic for those delivering public services as well as those receiving them. But there has to be a better way than to simply continue spending on top of spending and taxing on top of taxing. Sam Tavlor |