Readers React: Before changing Prop. 13, reduce personal income tax in California

To the editor: Former UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau urges Californians to adopt a split property tax roll that would regularly reassess commercial property while preserving the Proposition 13 protections for homeowners. We should reject his idea. (“To fix California’s colleges, reform Prop. 13 by taxing corporations more,” Op-Ed, Nov. 2)

Thousands of companies of all sizes would be affected. They would have to raise prices to cover the higher taxes, providing another reason to leave California.

Our state already has the highest income tax rate in the country; the top bracket is set at 13.3%. We would all pay more because companies would increase the prices of their goods and services, pushing the cost of living and doing business here even higher than it is.

The reform California really needs is to reduce the onerous individual income tax burden. Personal income taxes account for more than 60% of state revenue into the general fund, and there is no long-term capital gains treatment for assets held longer than a year. This is unstable, and Sacramento has refused to address it.

Perhaps if state income taxes were lowered, voters would have more appetite for higher property taxes for education.

George Orff, Laguna Beach

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To the editor: Proposition 13 has a number of inequities, and to me the “solution” of a split tax roll is itself inequitable.

Perhaps if property were assessed yearly at full market value but the tax rate were reduced to one-half percent instead of 1%, the government would still collect more money. Property taxes for me would go up, but those for some of my neighbors who purchased recently would go down. We would all pay our fair share for services based on the value of our property.

There could still be some tax postponement for the disabled and elderly. Otherwise, we would all be treated the same.

W. Michael Johnson, San Marino

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