I was too terse.

I was trying to get across my belief that if government is too tightly constrained in how it can raise revenue, as I believe it's clearly the case in California, then bad things happen when the economy changes (and the economy is always changing). I agree that local governments should be willing to cut positions, reduce wages, etc., when things go bad; but they also need to be able to raise revenue - all of the tools have to be available. Ideology run amok is bad because the real world isn't ideal.

Oh, and we pay a lot more than property taxes around here. :-) http://www.fairfaxco...itizens_guide.pdf (24 page .pdf) - page 18:

Total Revenue for FY09: $3.22 B

Sources:
61.6% Real Estate Taxes
15.5% Personal Property Taxes (Annual Car Tax)
15.0% Local Taxes (Sales Tax)
2.5% Revenue from VA
1.9% Charges for Services (e.g. Clerk of Courts)
Etc.

53% of that revenue goes to the schools.

Cheers,
Scott.

I think your family's getting more benefit in that regard. ;-)

The schools around here vary, but in general they're pretty good. They're one of the reasons why people want to live here.

Cheers,
Scott.