Big change in California’s Proposition 13 could be headed to ballot

[Swordsmyth]

California’s largest companies could find themselves paying an additional $11 billion a year in property taxes under a ballot measure that would dramatically revise the state’s tax-cutting Proposition 13.
Schools and Communities First, a wide-ranging group of community organizations, education advocates, unions and foundations, turned in 860,000 signatures Tuesday that could put that initiative on the November 2020 state ballot.
Under Prop. 13, all California property, residential and commercial, is reassessed only when it is sold. Houses and condominiums, however, can turn over every few years, while many large businesses occupy their land for decades — meaning some have not had property reassessed since Prop. 13 passed 40 years ago.
The proposed ballot measure calls for a split tax roll that would require commercial and industrial property — but not homes and small businesses — to be regularly reassessed and taxed at their full value.


“We’re excited by this reform because it’s a structural change,” Ben Grieff, campaign director for the community organizing group Evolve, told a crowd of supporters at the South Berkeley Senior Center on Tuesday. “It’s a bold reform, but it’s just common sense.”


The 80 or so people cheered every attack on some of the state’s biggest landholders, such as Disney and Wells Fargo, whose property taxes are pegged to assessments dating from Prop. 13’s passage. They waved signs with messages like “Taxing the Wealthy Keeps the Economy Healthy” and “Funds for Schools.”
“Chevron is getting the same deal as Grandma,” Grieff said. “That doesn’t make any sense.”


That unified roll has been the way property taxes have traditionally been treated in California since the 1800s, said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, named after the man who put Prop. 13 on the ballot.


While supporters of revising Prop. 13 say the changes will not cost most property owners anything, Coupal says his members, 95 percent of whom are homeowners, aren’t convinced it will stay that way.
“If the business community loses its Prop. 13 protection, we’re next on the menu,” he said.
There have been numerous attempts to revise Prop. 13 so that residential and commercial property are taxed differently, but this new effort would be the first to qualify for the state ballot. In an effort to drum up support, small businesses, defined as those with fewer than 50 employees, would be included with homeowners in the new split roll.

More at: https://www.sfgate.com/politics/arti...p?t=7a751ac427


If it passes they can wave goodbye to many businesses and jobs.

[aGameOfThrones]

“We’re excited by this reform because it’s a structural change,” Ben Grieff, campaign director for the community organizing group Evolve, told a crowd of supporters at the South Berkeley Senior Center on Tuesday. “It’s a bold reform, but it’s just common sense.”

[Brian4Liberty]

California commies: “we don’t need no stinkin’ jobs!”

[angelatc]

California commies: “we don’t need no stinkin’ jobs!”

Is rental property also exempt? If so, that's who they'll come for next.

[Brian4Liberty]

Backers include good-government groups like the League of Women Voters, social justice groups like the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and some prominent state and local teachers’ unions. Big money has come from Bay Area philanthropic organizations such as the San Francisco Foundation and the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative (yes, that Zuckerberg).

https://calmatters.org/articles/blog...u-should-know/

[Brian4Liberty]

Is rental property also exempt? If so, that's who they'll come for next.

Good question.