Since that June day in 1978 when voters gave their blessing to the property tax-slashing initiative, Proposition 13 has been the subject of interminable debate. Was it beneficial? Did it accomplish its goal? What effect did it have on California's quality of life? How did it affect government? If we had it to do over, would we pass it again?

Of those difficult questions, only one carries a sure answer: Yes, it did accomplish its goal. It cut property taxes by 57 percent, and it dramatically capped increases using the 1975 tax rolls as a benchmark.

The initiative passed because homeowners were fed up with spiraling taxes and angry that the state's coffers had what was then described as an "obscene surplus" of several billion dollars. Proposition 13's sponsors, wealthy apartment owner Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann, an anti-tax gadfly, tapped into that anger masterfully.

But the rest of Proposition 13's legacy is murky, indeed sinister. The loss of revenue hit local governments, particularly the counties, like a bombshell. To soften the impact, the state bailed out the counties with funds from Sacramento, initiating a relationship of dependency that exists to this day. When the counties' money went, so did their authority: The state became the increasingly powerful and centralized, and the once-stable source of funding that had made California's infrastructure the envy of the nation -- its schools, roads, law enforcement and social services -- began to wither. As the money dwindled, so did the services.

Proposition 13 was overwhelmingly supported by conservative Republicans, but ironically the effect of the initiative was the Republicans' worst nightmare: It created a powerful central authority with ever tighter purse strings, and decisions that should have been made at the local level began being made in Sacramento. The concept of "local control" -- a phrase so beloved by Republicans -- became a chimera; the power followed the money.

Indeed, the Capitol's toughest political wars of the past two decades have focused, simply, on attempts to make end runs around Proposition 13. A whole generation of GOP legislators, dubbed the "Prop. 13 Babies," were elected in November 1978 as guardians of the initiative.

In 1988, for example, voters approved Proposition 98, which required the state to provide schools with a minimum amount of money each year to enable them to handle increasing enrollment. Proposition 98 was a direct response to Proposition 13's failure to protect the state's own schools, a failure that has become glaringly apparent in recent years.

Proposition 13 also created a bitter generational divide. Those who purchase their property pre-Proposition 13 enjoyed lower property taxes than those who bought later. In many neighborhoods, families living next to each other shouldered wildly disparate tax loads for homes with the same market value, fueling anger and resentment. Older, established families were protected at the expense of younger, first-time home buyers. Despite the lip service paid to Proposition 13 as prudent fiscal management, the reality of the initiative was that it provided a mechanism for the state to devour its young and cripple future generations. This, too, is a legacy that exists to this day.

Finally, given the chance, would we approve such an initiative again? With California's penchant for low-turnout elections, combined with the electorate's reliance on television campaign advertising for its political decision-making, the possibility is strong that such a measure would pass again.

For those who thought then, and still believe, that Proposition 13 was an unparalleled disaster, there is no sadder epitaph.

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