Disparities in Property Taxes Created by Proposition 13

The letters about Prop. 13 appear to come exclusively from members of the “I’ve got mine club” who have not moved since the passage of the property tax revolution. There are, however, several things which were left unsaid.

The original concept of the proposition was to favor those who stayed put against those who moved for any reason; this favored the owners of commercial properties, since the turnover of private homes at that time exceeded the rate of turnovers of commercial properties by a large ratio.

The reason that property is taxed is that the local governments, which provide such services as police and fire protection, streets, schools, libraries, etc., are not authorized to tax incomes. With the passage of Prop. 13, cities and counties have depended upon state and federal funds.

The normal presumption of the property tax is that homeowners have incomes which have increased each year in the proportion to which the property valuation has increased. My personal income, in retirement, is 500% of my earned income for 1954; my home valuation in the marketplace has increased 1000% in the same time. This does not mean, however, that the assessed valuation needs to have increased by the latter figure. It could be a portion of the market value, depending on the average cost of living.

The normal process of establishing the ad valorem tax is for the elected officials of local governments to determine their budgets and then report to the tax collector what tax will be required as based on the assessed valuation of all properties. The budget will be adopted only after hearings and input by citizens who are interested.

Now that a good amount of time has passed to allow what the real results of Prop. 13 are, it is time to make the necessary corrections before the courts rule or another equally deficient proposition is put on the ballot. There should be control on the assessors to provide equal valuations on similar properties. There should be a split roll, with homes separated from commercial properties. There should be a tax relief for those who cannot pay the property tax levied, with the amount of relief held against the property and reclaimed out of the proceeds of a sale or transfer by will.

The local property tax is a fair judgment of income, allows local government to give its constituents the services which they need, and will be a problem only to those who want something for nothing.

MORRIS JONES

San Diego