Enact a measure to put commercial property tax reform on the California ballot in 2016 as a Constitutional Amendment stating that commercial property shall be reassessed periodically.
Why is this important?
Education, public safety, infrastructure, courts, libraries, and social services in California have been slashed year after year since 1978, when Proposition 13 amended the state Constitution to lower property taxes and prevent them from rising more than a small amount per year. Property is reassessed to market value only when it is sold, but a sale is defined as a transfer of 50% or more to one owner. Big businesses now structure sales to multiple owners, so that no one buyer owns 50%, the property avoids reassessment, and taxes stay artificially low. Homeowners now bear a larger share of property taxes than corporations, reversing the proportions before Prop 13 passed.
