The problem with Proposition 13 is that it also applies to commercial real estate.
A personal residence can only be about 30 years out of date in terms of assessment. And, when the owner dies, that assessment corrects.
Commercial real estate will get buried behind layers and layers of sublease agreements in order to avoid triggering a reassessment. At one place I worked, we had to find the actual original building owner because someone drove a car through a support beam and the rework was going to cause everything to come up to code. We moved out because nobody could actually get through all the layers of subleases (11 layers when I last checked) and guarantee a completion date.
The solution is to remove the Proposition 13 protections from commercial real estate. Good luck. Every company with real estate on the books in California is going to fight you tooth and nail.
When you inherit property from your parents the Proposition 13 tax basis is preserved. Many of the kids I grew up with still live in their childhood homes for this reason. Seems a bit ironic: those who can afford to keep inherited property continue to benefit from the Government subsidized tax break, while those who can't afford to are forced to sell.
If the people wanting that very change simply organized the requisite petition drive, I'm guessing it would pass easily. That's how Prop 13 was installed in the first place -- the Jarvis-Gann initiative amendment. Same with the California Lottery and legalized marijuana (I think the latter was just statute law, which has a lower number of required signatures.)
Comments
The problem with Proposition 13 is that it also applies to commercial real estate.
A personal residence can only be about 30 years out of date in terms of assessment. And, when the owner dies, that assessment corrects.
Commercial real estate will get buried behind layers and layers of sublease agreements in order to avoid triggering a reassessment. At one place I worked, we had to find the actual original building owner because someone drove a car through a support beam and the rework was going to cause everything to come up to code. We moved out because nobody could actually get through all the layers of subleases (11 layers when I last checked) and guarantee a completion date.
The solution is to remove the Proposition 13 protections from commercial real estate. Good luck. Every company with real estate on the books in California is going to fight you tooth and nail.
When you inherit property from your parents the Proposition 13 tax basis is preserved. Many of the kids I grew up with still live in their childhood homes for this reason. Seems a bit ironic: those who can afford to keep inherited property continue to benefit from the Government subsidized tax break, while those who can't afford to are forced to sell.
The assessment can live on after the owner dies, if the property is inherited by a child or grandchild. Nobility titles are a thing in California.
https://assessor.lacounty.gov/proposition-58-and-proposition...
But companies don't vote.
If the people wanting that very change simply organized the requisite petition drive, I'm guessing it would pass easily. That's how Prop 13 was installed in the first place -- the Jarvis-Gann initiative amendment. Same with the California Lottery and legalized marijuana (I think the latter was just statute law, which has a lower number of required signatures.)
It requires a 2/3 majority to change it. Good luck.
No. An Initiative Constitutional Amendment requires only a simple majority of 50%+1 of votes for passage.
For example, Prop 13 itself passed with "only" 62.6%.