Dear Housing Providers:
A Constitutional Amendment was just introduced that could quickly DOUBLE the two-billion-dollar parcel tax burden already imposed on homeowners. Yes, double!
California is the only state in the USA where parcel taxes are even legal. Parcel taxes were invented here to dodge Proposition 13’s 1% cap and now Senate Constitutional Amendment 22 (SCA 22) just introduced, would also wipe out Prop. 13’s two-thirds vote protection making parcel taxes twice as easy to pass and potentially doubling their burden on homeowners.
To defeat SCA22, I need YOU to sign and return the attached Official Petition right now! If you can, please back your signature with a special HJTA donation of $65 or more to help us reinforce our Petition Campaign with our famous “take no prisoners” lobbying.
Here is what’s at stake: today, almost half of the parcel taxes that appear on a ballot pass because enough voters say “Yes” to meet Prop. 13’s two-thirds vote requirement. As a result, California now has more than 1,790 local parcel taxes, costing property owners almost two billion dollars a year. That’s with only half passing. And lately, local tax-and-spenders are getting even better at passing parcel taxes because:
- They build parcel taxes around popular themes like schools. Many voters buy into the cause, not understanding they’re raising their own taxes!
- They use scare tactics to impose taxes on homeowners – “Pass this or run out of water!”
- They run parcel taxes in special and off-year elections with lower turnout – like this year, plus …
- People who don’t own property can cast decisive votes to impose taxes paid only by homeowners.
Homeowners suffer from excessive, unaffordable parcel taxes even with the two-thirds rule and now … that Prop. 13 protection could soon go away! Senate Constitutional Amendment 22 would reduce the two-thirds vote requirement to 55% for parcel taxes that pay for schools.
If SCA 22 passes, parcel taxes could double! When $7,000 in annual parcel taxes are charged on a mansion, a factory or an office complex, the rich owners shrug – “small change”. When retirees with modest homes are hit with $7,000 a year in parcel taxes, they might have to sell and move out just like skyrocketing property taxes drove people out of their homes before Prop. 13!
Please return your signed petition right now. Your petition is critical because tax-and-spenders have a two-thirds majority in the Senate, so for these pro-taxes, approving SCA 22 could almost be routine – just one more tax to pile onto the gas and car tax hikes and other taxes zipping through the State Legislature.
But … right now, SCA 22 is still new, with no momentum; not yet caught up in their approval routine. If we can hit the State Senate with a HUGE NUMBER of petitions, it will get their attention, disrupt their process and break them out of their routine. That’s why I am providing you with a petition already made out to your Senator in Sacramento. Please sign and return this today! I will compile your petition with all of the others we receive from HJTA and AOA members and slam them on every desk in the Senate.
These petitions will shake up the anti-Prop. 13 supermajority reminding them that a supermajority of California homeowners and taxpayers still support Proposition 13.
SCA 22 is new – just introduced. It hasn’t had time to get attention or momentum. With your signed petition to your State Senator, Robert Hertzberg, we can derail it and block it before it doubles your parcel taxes. At the same time, we need funds to back all of the lobbying that will drive our Petition Campaign home.
So when returning your petition, please enclose a special HJTA donation of $65 or more. Both your signature and your donation could be decisive in defeating SCA 22 and doing everything needed to protect you, your wallet and Proposition 13.
P.S. Mr. or Ms. Housing Provider and Apartment Owners Association of CA, (AOA) – as I explain in my letter, we could see parcel taxes double if we don’t stop this new anti-Prop. 13 amendment fast. We can protect you in this as always, but it’s up to you to return your signed petition as soon as possible. If you can, enclose a donation of $65 or more. But no matter what … SIGN AND RETURN THAT PETITION RIGHT NOW! Thank you!
Jon Coupal is President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association – California’s largest grass-roots taxpayer organization dedicated to the protection of Proposition 13 and the advancement of taxpayers’ rights. For more information, visit www.hjta.org.