Chicago State Moto: “our radio hasn’t changed since your senior year of high school 1998–”do do do do do do doo” “its something unpredictable, but in the end…

August 21st, 2008

California: ‘Kelly Kapowski doesn’t happen in Kansas’

June 20th, 2008

California: ‘Surfing Before Work Just like Brian Wilson DID… Surfing before work just like BRIAN WILSON DID—OH!

June 19th, 2008

California: ‘Where Avocados and Motos Grow on Trees”

June 18th, 2008

California: ‘Now Serving: Midwest farmers daughters, east coast, northern/southern gurls sundrenched”

June 17th, 2008

California: ‘Ronald Reagan burried by the River Phoenix”

June 16th, 2008

California: ‘Bummed OR Stoked”

June 13th, 2008

California: “Billy Ocean by the Ocean”

June 12th, 2008



California: ‘We may be almost dried up but at least we dont shtink all the time like Chicago!’

June 10th, 2008

CALIFORNIA: ‘What we lack in education, we make up for in Proposition 13.’

June 9th, 2008

Proposition 13: Love it or Hate it, its Roots Go Deep


Introduction

California continues to face one of the most serious crises in the state’s public finance history, and proposals are likely to surface in the Legislature or via the initiative process that would overhaul the way taxes are imposed on individuals, businesses and property owners, both residential and commercial. This research bulletin, the first in an occasional Cal-Tax series on public finance issues, examines California’s property tax system. It highlights the strengths of acquisition-value assessments and projects the ramifications of possible changes to the system established by Proposition 13.

Highlights

  • A property tax system based on acquisition value has a progressive impact on the tax structure, according to the California Policy Seminar.
  • Property tax assessments prior to Proposition 13 showed wider divergences than assessment disparities under the current acquisition-value system.
  • Alternatives to Proposition 13 have a variety of unwelcome effects, including substantial increases for low-income and elderly homeowners.
  • 92% of elderly property owners would be negatively impacted by suggested revenue-neutral changes in Proposition 13.
  • Proposed revenue-neutral changes in how property is assessed would result in tax increases of over 160 percent to 43 percent of Los Angeles County homeowners.
  • Proposition 13 revenue flow has been 2.9 times more stable than pre-Proposition 13 property tax collections.
  • The property tax has proven to be a stable revenue source for local governments, growing almost 10 percent per year between 1980 and 1992; even in 1992, a recession year, the annual increase was 7.9 percent.
  • A 2-to-1 rejection of Proposition 167 in November 1992 suggests one alternative to the current system, a split roll, finds little favor with voters.
  • Business properties already pay a proportionately higher share of the property tax than residences. Business properties are assessed at 75 percent of market value; the statewide assessment average — including business properties — is 55 percent.