Hat tip to DOB for sending this in:
The pro-tax politicians in the Legislature continue to threaten Prop. 13, homeowners and small businesses.
Today at least 7 bills that would directly undercut various provisions of Prop. 13 will be heard in committee. If approved, these bills could cost every property owner thousands of dollars.
There are seven bills pertaining to Proposition 13 that are up in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee. Six of these bills directly undercut various provisions of Proposition 13.
The bills are: SCA 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 11.
THE FOLLOWING BILLS PLACE A BULLSEYE ON PROPOSITION 13 AND TAXPAYERS:
Senate Constitutional Amendment 3 (SCA 3), Mark Leno (D—San Francisco): Lowers the threshold for school district per-parcel property taxes from two-thirds to 55%. This is a direct assault on Proposition 13 because it makes it easier to increase property taxes above Proposition 13?s one percent cap.
Senate Constitutional Amendment 4 (SCA 4), Carol Liu (D—La Canada) and Senate Constitutional Amendment 8 (SCA 8), Ellen Corbett (D—San Leandro): Lowers the threshold for the imposition, extension or increase of local transportation special taxes from the Proposition 13-mandated two-thirds vote to 55%. Most transportation special tax increases consist of very regressive sales tax hikes. These add to the burden of California taxpayers who already pay the highest state sales tax in the nation.
Senate Constitutional Amendment 7 (SCA 7), Lois Wolk (D—Davis): Lowers the threshold from two-thirds to 55% in order to approve a bond to fund public library facilities. Lowering the threshold for school facilities to 55% has already resulted in billions of dollars of additional property tax payments that otherwise would not have been approved by voters.
Senate Constitutional Amendment 9 (SCA 9), Ellen Corbett (D—San Leandro): Lowers the threshold from two-thirds to 55% to increase special taxes to fund community and economic development projects.
Senate Constitutional Amendment 11 (SCA 11), Loni Hancock (D—Berkeley): Lowers the threshold to 55% to allow for voters representing ANY local government entity to approve a special tax for ANY purpose. This is far and away the broadest application, and thus the most egregious, of these constitutional amendments.
Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8 (ACA 8), Bob Blumenfield (D—Woodland Hills): Lowers the threshold to 55% for city and county voters to approve a local bond measure in order to fund emergency service facilities projects.
One supportive bill, Senate Constitutional Resolution 25 (sponsored by State Senator Mark Wyland, R—Escondido) is also up in the committee today and honors Proposition 13 on its upcoming 35th anniversary.
Stay tuned: Two additional bills, Assembly Constitutional Amendments 3 and 8 also diminish Proposition 13’s protections. These will head to hearing soon.
Property taxes are already running about 1/3 of mortgage payments.
If we lose Prop 13, the concept of “ownership” is a joke. You’ll be renting your property in perpetuity from the state.
Not to mention my property taxes under Prop 13 are already scheduled to consume about 100% of my Social Security check.
I’m with you – and it looks like they will be making a bundle more due to higher sales prices:
San Diego home prices and sales both increased in April, and California’s median price surpassed the $400,000 mark for the first time in five years, according to the California Association of Realtors (CAR).
“California’s housing market maintained its momentum in April, getting the spring home-buying season off to a good start,” said CAR President Don Faught.
“Southern California regions such as Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego led the way in both month-to-month and year-over-year sales increases, while sales in the Bay Area region as a whole posted a healthy monthly gain but dipped slightly from last year,” he said.
San Diego sales were up 4.5 percent in April from March and up 9.2 percent from April 2012, according to CAR.
San Diego sold 2,551 houses in April, according to Redfin’s Real-Time Price Tracker for April 2013. The report shows this number is up 11 percent from last year and up 3.2 percent from last month.
The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in San Diego was $454,390 in April, up 4 percent from $436,710 in March and up 22.8 percent from $369,910 in April 2012, according to CAR.
Redfin reports the median price per square foot in San Diego was $244 in April, up 18.5 percent from last year and up 2.3 percent from March.
May 15, 2013
Bill would enable local library bonds, taxes to pass on 55 percent vote
SACRAMENTO—The Senate Governance and Finance Committee voted 5-2 today to support legislation by Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) to help local governments maintain their libraries and ensure that communities continue to have access to the valuable library services and resources upon which many Californians rely.
“Library attendance is at an all-time high statewide,” said Wolk. “Many Californians of all ages depend on public libraries for a variety of vital services including literacy training, resume-building classes, and after-school online tutoring programs. Libraries are also often the only place where Californians with lower incomes can access the Internet. My legislation will enable local governments to better meet the needs of their local communities, whether that means keeping a library open or expanding workforce development programs.”
Wolk’s Senate Constitutional Amendment 7 would place a measure before voters that, if approved, would enable local governments to pass special taxes and bonds to support their public libraries by lowering the voter threshold from two-thirds to 55 percent.
Currently, only bonds for K-12 schools require 55 percent voter approval. General tax measures that may be used to fund local services, ranging from police and fire departments, to parks and streets, require only a simple majority to pass. Special taxes, which are dedicated only to specified uses, like libraries, need two-thirds voter approval.
SCA 7’s supporters include the California Library Association, League of California Cities, California Park and Recreation Society, Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, California State Library Foundation, Contra Costa County Library Commission, Yolo County Board of Supervisors, and Yolo County Library Advisory Board. The bill will next be heard by the Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments.
The Senate Governance and Finance Committee Members:
Senator Lois Wolk (Chair)
Senator Steve Knight (Vice Chair)
Senator Jim Beall
Senator Mark DeSaulnier
Senator Bill Emmerson
Senator Ed Hernandez
Senator Carol Liu
http://sgf.senate.ca.gov/
Consultants: Gayle Miller, George Austin, Toby Ewing, Colin Grinnell, Samantha Lui, and Brian Weinberger
Assistants: Marisa Lanchester and Krimilda McKenzie
Phone: (916) 651-4119
Fax: (916) 322-0298
Room: 408
This could cause lots of people to retire out of state, but then who’s gonna buy all their houses?
We voted in a super-majority … why should we be surprised?
In Santa Clara County, 30 years ago the average total property tax rate was less than 1.25 percent of assessed value. That included special assessments and previously approved bond payments. Mine was even lower, at 1.10 percent. I don’t know what the average is today, but my taxes are 1.44 percent of the assessed value (assessed value has been increasing at 2 percent for 23 years) and the taxes on my father’s property with a factored 1975 base year value are well over 2 percent. Most of the special assessments are passed in off-year elections and few people vote. Nobody looks at the big picture – it’s my library hours or the kids’ classroom upgrade.
I really don’t see why anyone would move to California these days. The tax burden of places like New York, at which my parents used to smirk, are now ours to bear.
I don’t know what the average is today, but my taxes are 1.44 percent of the assessed value (assessed value has been increasing at 2 percent for 23 years) and the taxes on my father’s property with a factored 1975 base year value are well over 2 percent.
It’s not really fair because your assessed value is far below market rates. Small fees have a huge impact on your “percent” while your taxes are likely very low for your property. My guess is that your property taxes and your father’s are well below 1% of market value, which is pretty cheap compared to how other states do it.
“My guess is that your property taxes and your father’s are well below 1% of market value, which is pretty cheap compared to how other states do it.”
Yeah, but most other states aren’t being run by a majority of sociopaths. I was just reading about the high percentage of our population that are on some sort of behavior modifier, i.e., prozac, paxil, zoloft, etc.
This might be the first time in our nation’s history that the majority of decision-makers are on behavior-modifying prescription medication. I think that may the the answer as to why everything is so weird now.
We don’t need to mess with Prop 13. If I were Governor, I’d outlaw antidepressants for all but the most wretched Californians, put diving boards on every major scenic Bridge, and charge a $10 toll. This would balance California’s budget within a year.
I know it sounds mean, but we’ve tried crazy, and we’ve seen what happened. Maybe mean will work.
The base tax rate is 1 percent. It does not matter what your assessed value is, the rate is 1 percent. The drafters of Prop 13 envisioned the overall tax rate dropping to 1 percent as historical debt was paid off. The problem is that all the exceptions to Prop 13 have been exploited, making the total tax rate much higher. More bond debt, and every conceivable tax disguised as a fee or special assessment. The fees and parcel taxes tend to be flat amounts instead of percentages. So the folks with older base year values are paying much higher percentages of those values. Howard Jarvis is probably rolling in his grave.