LOS ANGELES -- Some good news in the midst of the recession greeted Los Angeles water customers when, on March 25th, the Los Angeles Superior Court issued a tentative ruling in L.A. v. All Persons finding the City's practice of padding water bills to pay for unrelated City expenses to be unconstitutional.  Read more >>

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation (HJTF) is the research, education and legal arm of the Jarvis organization.

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Claimed Homeowner Protections Easily Circumvented

For the past several months, local government interests, including the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties, have spent millions of dollars touting Prop. 99 as ironclad protection for Californians who fear having their homes seized by local governments to be turned over to private developers for strip-malls and other for-profit projects. But the list of property rights experts who reject this claim is growing. This is because Prop. 99 includes significant loopholes that will allow public agencies to continue to forcibly seize owner occupied homes and give them to wealthy and politically connected developers, even if the measure wins voter approval.  Read more >>

Many city attorneys in California know that the past and present collection of their city's utility tax on cell phone bills is illegal, absent voter approval. But they, and the politicians they represent, are trying to bluff their way out of holding an election.  Read more >>

Koko the gorilla, a resident of the Los Angeles Zoo, had become quite adept at picking the pockets of the zoo keeper. One day Koko used the zoo keeper's key to let himself out of his cage, and ambled over to the snack shop. Climbing onto a bar stool, he grunted "Water." When the man returned with a bottle of Aquafina, Koko handed him a $20 bill from the zoo keeper's wallet. Guessing the gorilla wasn't too smart, the man gave Koko one dollar in change. "We don't get a lot of business from the animals here," the man remarked. Koko snorted, "At $19 for bottled water, I'm not surprised."

Koko is not the only Los Angeles resident paying too much for water. And the snack shop isn't the only water purveyor hoping that its customers aren't too smart.  Read more >>

Although it received very little press attention, taxpayers recently won a huge victory in the California Supreme Court. The ruling in Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency v. Beringson has created shockwaves throughout the state among those concerned with local taxation.  Read more >>

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