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Defining Fair Taxation . . .

John Garner

Titanium
Joined
Sep 1, 2004
Location
south SF Bay area, California
Les and the Rest of You --

Today's San Jose Mercury News had an editorial about the fundamental unfairness of California's Proposition 13, which in theory caps the tax at one percent of the appraised value and limits the annual increase in appraised value to the greater of the actual rate of inflation or two percent UNLESS there has been a change of ownership, in which case the property can be reassessed at the sale price.

(For those of you who don't know, Proposition 13 was passed by the people of California back in 1978 or thereabouts after a real-estate boom provided an excuse for the County Assessors to impose astronominal raises in assessed values and thus in the amount of taxes owed. Many people, particularly those on fixed incomes, were actually forced to sell their homes to pay the taxes.)

So it's a fact that in any established neighborhood in California today the assessed values and thus the property taxes on similar homes can vary wildly, depending generally on when the property was purchased.

To hear the politicians and the press tell the story, these wild variations are caused by Proposition 13 and aren't fair to recent homebuyers.

For some reason it never seems to cross the minds of these politicians that the inequities are only allowed by Proposition 13, that they are actually caused by tax-crazy bureaucrats who choose to assess each property at the maximum rate permitted by Proposition 13.

The politicians have been pushing to repeat Prop 13 ever since it was first passed into law, and they are counting on recent homebuyers to be gullible enough to believe that rescinding or revising Prop 13 will lead to lower tax bills.

If that ever happens, though, the guys that will be hardest hit are the folks trying to make a living running small manufacturing businesses and farms that their parents or grandparents started way back when. (And I expect that includes you, Les.)

At this point, I'll just climb down off my soapbox and walk away. I'd like to say something more about our politicians, but sarcasm doesn't show well on the computer screen.

John
 
You are right John.
It took a couple of years but we finally got the county to back down from the reassessment on the properties. Our building sits on two commercial lots and we have an empty residential lot adjoining the rear we use for parking, storage, gardens and BBQ's.
The property taxes would have more than doubled if the county got their way.

The biggest complainers about Prop. 13 are the schools. They say it took money away from them and they have to cut programs.
I'm still trying to figure out how it took money away from them that they never received to begin with.
But the lottery was supposed to infuse the schools with tons of cash. The state has seen fit to cut the school budgets by the amount they get out of the lottery.
California is headed for a big CRASH!
That big sucking sound is the void left by all the companies getting the heck out.
Les
 
Schools have become the tax grabbers best friend. Not by choice, but because it's been a successful soft spot for the taxpayers - virtually everyone recognizes the benefit of a good education and wants one for the children. Here in Oregon they've been diverting money from the schools and then begging for taxes 'for the children' for years. I'd love to see the schools keep their funding and hear the state beg for money for the 'art' they stick in front of public buildings at enormous taxpayer expense.
GsT
 








 
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