Ventura County Taxpayers Association hosts first ever awards show
The Ventura County Taxpayers Association held its first annual awards program at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley Sept. 13.
VCTA founder and president David Grau was presented with the lifetime achievement award.
The first annual Bill Wilson Award for taxpayer excellence was given to Steven Hintz, a former Ventura County treasurer-tax collector and a former Ventura County Superior Court judge.
The late Wilson was a longtime member and treasurer of the association.
The keynote speaker was economist Arthur Laffer, widely known as the “father of supply-side economics” who was a member of Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board.
Laffer spoke about the origins of California’s landmark Proposition 13.
Overwhelmingly approved by state voters in 1978, it limits the property tax rate to 1% of assessed value at the time of purchase.
An amendment of the California Constitution, it also restricts annual tax increases to a maximum 2% until the property is sold.
“It was called the taxquake that ran across America,” Laffer said.
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