Property Taxes

Re “Property Tax Shift Hurting Local Agencies,” Ventura County Perspective, June 13.

Instead of shifting taxes back to local agencies, the property taxes should be shifted back to the taxpayers’ pockets.

We need a 50% reduction in property taxes across the board, and [reduce] ballooning government salaries and perks to achieve this. The minimum retirement age for all government employees should be pegged to that of Social Security, which just happens to be 65, not 40, 45, 50 or 55 as public employees now enjoy, and there should be no retirement packages for elected and appointed officials, which would encourage them to go out and get real jobs.

The California Public Employees Retirement System (CALPERS) should be disbanded. It is a $155 billion pyramid scheme using the money the people of California provide for the retirement of public employees to invest in the stock market. Just a few years ago the fund had $100 billion dollars. It is up $55 billion. It won’t be long before CALPERS takes over the world.

We should also do away with the entire California state income tax system, saving the workers in the state billions of dollars.

ANDREW LEVINSON

Thousand Oaks