An initiative passed narrowly by voters in 2020 to protect wildfire victims and seniors has opened the door to massive tax increases that threaten tenants and the roof over their heads. Proposition 19 removed important taxpayer protections from the state constitution that for 35 years guaranteed that parents or grandparents...
California’s Death Tax Unleashed a Callous Tax Increase on Californians Grieving the Death of a Loved One
Californians face some of the highest taxes in the nation. We have the highest gas, personal income, and state sales tax in the country. Yet, for 35 years we haven’t had a death tax, until the narrow passage of Prop. 19 in 2020. Proposition 19 resurrected the Death Tax on hard-working...
Devil is in the details of Prop. 19
This last November California voters, by an overwhelming 51%, passed Proposition 19, the Property Tax Transfers, Exemptions and Revenue for Wildfire Agency and Counties Amendment. The constitutional amendment modifies Proposition 13, officially named the People’s Initiative to Limit Property Taxation that voters approved in 1978. Previous columns have supported Prop....
Death tax ballot initiative to “fix” last year’s Proposition 19 tax hike
In November 2020, California voters unfortunately narrowly approved Proposition 19, which is known as “The Home Protection for Seniors, Severely Disabled, Families, and Victims of Wildfire or Natural Disasters Act.” Under Proposition 19, homeowners 55 and older or that are disabled pay lower property taxes when moving to a new,...
California’s tax on inherited properties hurts minority communities
Housing. It’s an issue full of inequities that continue to impact minority and Black families in California. Whether it was redlining in the 1930s, a discriminatory practice of denying financial services to residents of certain areas based on their race or ethnicity, or racist language embedded in property records, people...
HOWARD JARVIS GROUP AIMS TO KILL “DEATH TAX”
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is recruiting an army of volunteers for a new initiative to repeal the “death tax” that was a little-noticed provision in last November’s Proposition 19. HJTA filed the initiative, No. 21-0015, with the attorney general’s office in August and is aiming to qualify the measure...
Legislation seeks to delay new tax increase on California property
A new bill that would defer implementation of Proposition 19 – a ballot measure that passed by a small margin in November – is designed to provide relief to families and businesses now facing unexpected tax bills. Proposition 19 would force the reassessment to market value of property transferred within...
Amid Prop. 19 uncertainty, family fears for 134-year-old Sonoma Coast ranch
By Andrew Graham On a ridgeline northwest of Bodega, cattle dot a sloping field, oblivious to the soaring, million dollar view and waiting, as livestock here have for more than a century, for the nourishing hand of a member of the Ryan clan. In a hollow below the ridge, smoke...
Prop. 19 poses challenges to taxpayers, assessors
By Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang As a long-time reader, first-time writer in The Downey Patriot, I want to briefly introduce myself and my office. As the LA County Assessor, I am one of three Countywide elected officials - the other two being better known than me - the...