Jarvis, Howard

Biography

Howard Jarvis was born in 1902, in Utah, one of five children. After getting his law degree at the University of Utah, he decided not to practice law, but instead bought newspapers. He purchased eleven weeklies in Utah.

He came to Los Angeles, California, in 1935 and purchased a small chemical company. Later, he developed a device to silence office machinery, followed by a process to demagnitize the hulls of U.S. warships so they wouldn't attract magnetic mines. Jarvis then went into business as a producer of appliances and aircraft sub-assemblies. At 59, with a staff of 13,000 employees, he retired.

He turned his attention to the fight to reduce taxes. With Paul Gann, he cosponsored Proposition 13. It passed in 1978 by a two to one margin, changing the way taxes are levied, collected and distributed in California. Its ultimate result was to reduce tax bills for property owners and, therefore, restrict the flow of revenue to state and local governments. Jarvis went on to pass Proposition 7 (income tax indexing) in 1987 and to author Proposition 62, which passed on the November 1986 ballot after his death.

He was president of the Apartment House Association of Los Angeles and chairman of the United Organization of Taxpayers and chairman of the American Tax Reduction Movement.

He died at age 83 on August 15, 1986.

From the guide to the Howard Jarvis Collection, 1970-1986, (California State Library)