For most California voters, evicting President Donald Trump from the White House is the primary priority for the Nov. 3 election, but while they are at it, voters shouldn’t overlook the 12 propositions on the ballot.
It is tempting to just rely on the media blitzes rather than do the homework to familiarize yourself with the propositions, but we all know political ads are typically one-sided, misleading and hyperbolic.
You can read the full texts of the propositions on the California Secretary of State’s website — well, maybe if you have trouble sleeping. And unless you are a lawyer, you may not fully understand the language.
So, consulting the Voter Guide is a reasonable, if limited, alternative. Although reading the 70 pages of analysis and pro and con arguments in the voter guide requires some self-discipline and enough coffee to stay focused, it is an obligation of democracy as well as self-defense against those interests that use the ballot initiative to achieve agendas that might not be in your best interest.
Having completed this direct-democracy obligation myself, I concluded that only Propositions 17, 18 and 22 would get my “Yes” vote. The others would get a “No,” particularly Propositions 15 and 19, which I find most onerous, deceptive and shallow in logic.
Propositions 15 and 19 both seek to increase property tax revenues. The former is a direct attack on Proposition 13, the 1978 ballot initiative that reined in California’s merciless property tax increases and was passed by nearly two-thirds of voters. Peeved state and local governments have been scheming to undermine it ever since.
Proposition 15 wants to repeal the Prop. 13 property tax protections on commercial property valued above $3 million. Such property would be taxed at current market value annually.
That might sound OK to you if you don’t own commercial property — you know, tax the rich — but, rich or not, commercial property owners aren’t going to just absorb the increased cost of doing business. They will pass it on to their tenants, who will pass it on to you, their customer, via price increases.
Proposition 19 is diabolical with its saccharine appeal to the welfare of seniors who, under the proposition, would be allowed to relocate to a new home anywhere in the state and keep their Prop. 13 tax base.
Meanwhile, it would repeal property tax protection for their children who inherit the property from them but who would no longer retain their parents’ tax base unless they made the property their primary residence. And even then, the property would be reassessed at current market value less the original tax base plus a $1 million allowance.
A million dollars may sound like a generous offset against an appraisal, but in much of California a converted tool shed can sell for $1 million.
The intention of these two propositions is to extract more taxes from California residents — already among the highest taxed people in the country. What the proponents of these tax grabs want you to overlook is the real reason they want more money and who they will hurt to get it.
They tell us it is for schools, fire protection, affordable housing, homeless programs, emergency response and even to help county governments overcome the economic ravages of the coronavirus pandemic. You know, all the good things California taxpayers expect government to fund.
Enticing, isn’t it? But for the most part these proposals do not guarantee the new revenue will be spent for these things.
Mostly, the revenue would flow into the state’s general fund to be spent as government sees fit — and California government hasn’t exactly been a frugal spender over the years.
California’s state government spending budget has more than doubled over the past 20 years, to $202 billion in 2020 from $99 billion in 2000. That increase is not fully explained by the increase in population and inflation, which together would account for 70 percent of the increase. California government likes to spend money and, in addition to high taxes, it incurs debt to do so.
The aggregate debt of California’s state and local governments is now about $1.5 trillion — that’s trillion with a T. Of that debt load, Moody’s calculates an unfunded public pension liability of $846 billion — a liability that has already bankrupted several California municipalities.
California government is quite generous with its public servants, and as that generosity gobbles up more and more available revenues, government must either cut or dilute services, like public education, or ultimately raise more tax revenue. Ergo, Propositions 15 and 19.
Have you noticed how many fire chiefs and sheriffs we go through here in Santa Barbara County as they retire as young as 55 with full pay and health insurance for life? At one time, the county was paying full pay and benefits for four sheriffs, three retired and one active.
So, sorry, your kids can’t keep the family home if they can’t pay the increase in property taxes, because those public pensions need to be funded.
The sophistry of Proposition 19 is despicable. It tells us that it would free up housing as seniors sell to relocate and keep their low tax base, but it would deprive untold numbers of younger generation Californians from ever affording a home in their state — they couldn’t afford the spike in property taxes on the homes they inherited from their parents or grandparents.
So, who could afford to purchase this “freed up housing”? Not most of the younger generation struggling to achieve the American Dream.
Millennials, the nation’s largest generation at 72 million, has a paltry 4.6 percent of the national wealth, well behind where the Baby Boomers were at the same point in life. Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation command the majority of the nation’s wealth — 70 percent, followed by Generation X holding 25 percent.
Wealth disparity is increasingly pronounced. If California’s children are ever going to afford a home or own any property here, many of them will need to inherit it from their parents. Proposition 19 would essentially eliminate that possibility for most of them while perpetuating wealth disparity.
We are being propositioned this election, but let’s not get screwed. Vote No on Propositions 15 and 19.
— Randy Alcorn is a Santa Barbara political observer. Contact him at randyaalcorn@gmail.com, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.