Sound and Fury over Taxes

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from government? If so, which services are crucial to the general welfare? Who should determine priorities (and how) within the confines of more limited public funding?

Compelled to act swiftly yet fairly, Californians must now try to answer those difficult questions as best they can. Surely the rest of the nation will be watching their performances very closely. For how California fares in the wake of Proposition 13 may well set public tax and spending patterns for many years to come.

*The Alaska homeowner is not nearly as hard-pressed as statistics suggest because the state's heavy tax burden is borne largely by oil and gas companies, which pay high taxes and royalties for exploration, drilling and production.