UPDATE ON THE EFFORT TO REPEAL THE DEATH TAX

As you probably know, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association worked with more than 15,000 volunteers to collect signatures for an initiative that would repeal the portion of Proposition 19, passed narrowly in 2020, that removed a constitutional right Californians had had for decades. Because of Prop. 19, Californians lost the ability to transfer property between parents and children, and sometimes grandparents and grandchildren, without any change to the property tax bill. Now, with only limited exceptions, property transferred between the generations is reassessed to current market value. In most cases, this is an enormous, unaffordable property tax increase. It forces families to sell long-held properties that have been painstakingly acquired through years of hard work and mortgage payments. It is robbing Californians of the ability to build generational wealth.

Although we did not collect enough signatures in time to get this important initiative on the November 2022 ballot, we have not given up.

The HJTA legal team is crafting a new initiative petition, and our legislative director is working with sympathetic lawmakers to introduce a Prop. 19 fix as a legislative constitutional amendment. With a two-thirds vote in each house of the Legislature, this amendment could be on the ballot as early as March 2024. 

Once this measure is introduced, you can call your representatives and urge them to support it.

If the Legislature is unhelpful, we will discuss moving forward with an initiative petition, and we will appreciate your help to collect signatures and spread the word.

We invite you to sign up for updates, to sign up to be a volunteer, and to support this important effort.

Thank you!

“It’s hard to imagine anything more callous than the government sending a giant tax bill to a bereaved family, but thanks to Proposition 19, many California families will have that unfortunate experience”
Jon Coupal
President, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

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