Why UCs Need Money

By Kitty Calavita, Berkeley | 11/24/2014

Regarding “UC regents advance tuition hike” (Page A1, Nov. 20): The virtual abandonment of California’s commitment to funding its public university system coincided with the enactment and aftermath of Proposition 13, which significantly reduced state revenues from property taxes. The battle now brewing between UC President Janet Napolitano and Gov. Jerry Brown assumes a zero-sum game.

But, the solution is simple. Fix the commercial side of Prop 13 so that businesses are assessed regularly for property tax purposes, thereby closing a loophole that huge corporations like Chevron and Disney have used to freeze their taxes at 1970s levels. The fix would bring in $6 billion a year in additional revenue to California – a good chunk of the $7 billion it takes to run the whole UC system. It is only right that business pays its fair share of the cost of the well-educated workforce it so richly benefits from.