| There are a bunch of things that bother me with regards to the discussion against Prop 13. - There are older folks that have owned their homes for over 30+ yrs that are on fixed income that wouldn't be able to absorb increased taxes. My grandparents would've been in this case. - There are folks that are middle class folks, think central California that couldn't absorb increased taxes. - The variability year to year dealing with the assessments makes it difficult to plan for the potential increase in taxes. Look at what happened in Cook County in Illinois. Some homeowners were facing thousands of dollars of taxes none of them were prepared to pay. The argument of telling someone to just move if they can't afford the taxes doesn't fly with me. Because I would just put it back on those individuals, you don't like the housing prices... Get out of the bay area. I mean I know you can go to Bakersfield get a palace for 500-600K. Case in point, brand new construction 462k 4BR, 3BA (http://www.zillow.com/community/camden-cove-pinnacle-series/...) I think there are ways to address some of the issues without a blanket reversal of Prop 13, because this would effect more than just the bay area. So what potential changes could you make. Couple of ideas: - Transfer of property through inheritance would be subject to re-assessment. At that point the original owners have presumably passed and the new owners aren't necessarily living in the property. If the taxes were adjusted to the current property value that decreases the profit from just renting the home. - Remove the applicability to commercial properties. Other articles on the subject that I've read, describe techniques that people use to try to game the re-assessment of a property through exchanges of corporate entities, eliminate that practice, especially for homes that are zoned residential. - If the issue is around vacancy, do what Vancouver did, tax vacant properties. If there is an abundant supply of vacant homes, force rental of those homes through taxing of vacant homes. That increased the supply of available homes, depressing rent and lowered home prices within a few weeks of its enactment. I'm not saying at all that Prop 13 is perfect and no doubt there is abuse of the rules. I'd focus on closing the loopholes around transfers of property first before trying to change something that would affect every single homeowner. |