Howard Jarvis was born September 22, 1903 in Ogden, Utah; died August 11, 1986 in Los Angeles, California. As founder of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, he spearheaded Proposition 13, the property tax-cutting initiative in California in 1978 which slashed property taxes by fifty-seven percent and initiated a new rise in political conservatism. In 1980 he had a cameo in the movie Airplane!, playing a man in a taxi.