Enough, Time to Fix Prop 13
Brian Strope Summary Prop 13 is one of the causes of California's housing crisis. It contributes to long commutes, environmental damage, and homelessness. Fixing it is a non-starter politically. A novel solution is proposed here. Instead of repealing it, or tweaking the numbers, we move the cap from the individual property owner to the state. Instead of saying your property taxes can't go up by more than 2% per year, we say the state revenue from all properties can't go up by more than 4%. As fair market prices go up, and as more properties come online, the effective tax rate goes down for each individual property owner. Collectively, we only have to contribute our share to meet the state-capped revenue total. Instead of protecting your property against run-away property taxes, we protect everyone's property, including the next generation of future buyers. The change would be phased in over 20 years. For many of us who have been here for 20 years already, ...