Prop. 13

Re “Transfer taxes steal your equity” (March 23):

Our politicians keep trying to get rid of Prop. 13 ever since it came into being. It seems every year there is something with a misleading title on the ballot to increase property taxes, directly or indirectly. Prior to Prop. 13 in 1978 property tax rates were rising constantly, and people (particularly seniors who are primarily on fixed incomes) were having to sell their homes because they could not afford the property taxes. At that time our property taxes were $3,000 annually. Had they stayed at that rate, taking into account the increased price of real estate, our property taxes today would be $100,000 a year. Using the guessinggame.org calculator Jon Coupal suggested, our property taxes would be $53,400. When one buys a house, they buy it based on their income and what they can afford. It’s unconscionable for our government to impose laws where people can no longer afford to stay in their homes, because of taxes.

— Lea Osborne, Woodland Hills

The federal government funding bill

Re “Dems: Bill cuts $30M from IE” (March 23):

Here we go again. The Democrats trying to blame Trump for their dumb policies. Newsom gave away billions of dollars to illegal immigrants for free healthcare and is bankrupting California. So Aguilar and Takano can cry and blame all they want, but the truth of the matter is they are to blame for the situation that they voted for. The voters of California are more aware than ever that the lack of common sense in the Democratic Party will be the death of our once great state. Change is coming, but it will not be due to Democratic policies.

— Mike Scanlon, Temecula

Hit to lose USAID

No sense holding my breath for the newspaper to have a news story on the absurd waste and fraud from USAID. Instead we get a stream of stories about the impact to our world standing, nothing about the U.S. taxpayer. If Muslim countries want to have trans studies and queer operas they should fund it themselves. There are no news stories about the wasteful government spending funneled to enrich Democratic donors. If Democratic donors care so much about their non-governmental organizations they can fund it without the taxpayer. Shame on the paper’s slanted reporting. Why call it news?

— R. Steven Tungate, Trabuco Canyon