It’s hard to imagine anything more callous than the government sending a giant tax bill to a bereaved family, but thanks to Proposition 19, many California families will have that unfortunate experience. Prop. 19, which passed by a razor-thin margin in the November election, expanded a tax break for some homeowners but repealed an important…
In this time of New Year’s resolutions, here’s one for California: Stick to the basics. Unfortunately, our elected leadership believe that any problem needs a government solution. This mindset has caused California to lose focus away from important functions that are properly within the purview of government. Here’s a short list of matters that our…
[I have] previously described Prop. 19, which barely passed with 51 percent of the vote, as a steak laced with cyanide. It may look good, but you don’t want to eat it. While there are some benefits from expanding property tax “portability” to allow homeowners to transfer their Proposition 13 base-year value to anywhere in…
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association filed a writ of mandate directly to the California Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District seeking reversal of a trial court decision handed down on Tuesday that failed to correct false and misleading ballot material submitted by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to Proposition 15, the largest property…
In January, Gov. Gavin Newsom presented a proposed budget for fiscal year 2020-2021 which envisioned a several billion dollar increase in spending for existing programs as well as a host of new programs. But that was before COVID-19 arrived at our shores.
With great fanfare, the proponents of an initiative to raise property taxes in California by $12 billion a year announced they had turned in over 1.7 million signatures to qualify the measure. Their press release was headlined “Schools and Communities First make history with most ever signatures submitted.”
The word “unprecedented” is fitting for the coronavirus crisis that is now savaging both the health of countless Americans as well as our nation’s economy. Not since September 11th has the United States faced such a challenge.
No one disputes that California has a big budget surplus. According to the Office of the Legislative Analyst,California has budget reserves in excess of $18 billion. Our budget reserves exceed the entire state budget of eighteen other states. One would think that the funds available for discretionary spending would chill any appetite for higher taxes.…
[Recently], progressive interest groups announced they had sufficient signatures to qualify an initiative for the 2020 ballot that is a direct attack on Proposition 13. Specifically, this so-called “split roll” initiative would raise property taxes on the owners of business properties to the tune of $11 billion every year, according to the backers. Because many…
Proposition 13 was created to strictly limit what’s called your ad valorem property tax – the tax linked to the value of your home when you bought it – the amount that appears “above the line” on your property tax bill.