Property taxes should enter recall debate Warren...

Property taxes should enter recall debate

Warren Buffett certainly did not do Arnold Schwarzenegger a favor

by endorsing him and thus bringing up the most powerful third rail in

California politics. No one can mention Proposition 13 as an issue

and live. Buffett did, however, point out the obvious: California’s

property tax has no relationship to reality. Two neighbors can live

side by side in homes with an equal market value with one paying

$2,500 a year in property tax and the other paying $25,000 a year.

That might make a lot of sense to one of the neighbors, but not much

sense to the other.

A solution would be to let property taxes be based on the market

value and increase as market value increases, but the increases would

not be collected until the house sells. That way an older couple

could live out their years in the family home without fear of being

forced to sell to pay the property tax and a younger couple could buy

a house they could afford today and know they will be able to afford

it tomorrow. Homes might not increase in value as fast as they do

today, and the kids might not inherit as much as they would

otherwise, but it that so bad?

Of course no discussion of property taxes can be made without

looking at all of our taxes. Maybe we would not need one of the

nations highest income tax and sales tax if property taxes were based

on reality. Maybe Buffett will have done us all a favor if the

subject of Proposition 13 could at least get mentioned as a part of

our massive fiscal state problems.

JOHN PATRICK ORMSBEE

Corona del Mar

Time to give up the El Toro ghost

Donald Nyre just won’t let go of El Toro. He continues to find

every reason to have an International airport at El Toro and you

folks keep printing his nonsense.

According to the reports, Southwest was three miles out before

deciding to turn around and no matter if we had 10,000 foot runways

it would not have changed this situation. A more concerning situation

is if the plane had taken off in to the wind and mountain terrain of

El Toro. Could that have possibly created an even bigger problem?

According to the counties now defunct plan, the plane would have

lifted off the runway and headed to Loma Ridge -- a very scary

situation in this case.

Nyre, a member of the Newport Beach-based Airport Working Group,

continues to dream of what was a flawed planning process to dump an

international-sized airport at El Toro -- with 824 operations per

day, running 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

The voters of Orange County spoke loudly after the last

environmental report was released from the county and in that vote

the county changed the zoning of El Toro so it can no longer be used

for aviation.

I guess it will take the final sale by the Navy this coming year

to convince Nyre, the Daily Pilot and all the other pro airport

groups of Newport Beach that they need to start thinking beyond El

Toro or, the Department of Transportation just might decide that it

would be cheaper to increase the use of John Wayne Airport, if Orange

County is really in such dire need the so called increase in

passengers and cargo.

DAVE KIRKEY

Coto de Caza

Castaways Park looks more like kindling

I would like to ask anyone who is interested, to take a stroll

around the upper level of Castaways Park. This weed patch can only be

enjoyed by an environmental extremist. If these conditions were to

exist in or around someone’s home they would be cited by the Fire

Department for a weed abatement problem. Come to think of it, why

hasn’t the Fire Department required the Parks Department to remove

this fire hazard?

JAMES PECK

Newport Beach