The Fight for Prop 15 Isn’t Over. It’s Just Begun. - LA Progressive

The Fight for Prop 15 Isn’t Over. It’s Just Begun. - LA Progressive

The Fight for Prop 15 Isn’t Over. It’s Just Begun.

Many of us worked hard this year trying to pass Proposition 15, which would have taxed commercial properties worth over $300 million and given the proceeds – some $12 billion a year – to local governments and schools. Post-mortems have begun trickling in about why Prop. 15 suffered defeat, some of which lay the groundwork for arguing Prop. 15 should be abandoned in the future, lest proponents alienate potential Democratic voters. This argument should be ignored.

Protection of property tax rates is deeply ingrained into the political DNA of California, and Prop. 15’s opposition milked this fact for all it was worth. Nevertheless, Prop. 15 ended up a couple percentage points away from significantly taxing the rich and permanently returning large amounts of money to the public. That’s a victory to be proud of – one to build on and fight for again.

Protection of property tax rates is deeply ingrained into the political DNA of California, and Prop. 15’s opposition milked this fact for all it was worth.

Prop. 15 proposed to alter laws created by a different ballot measure, Prop. 13, which passed back in 1978. Prop. 13 came at a time when property values, and consequently property taxes, were skyrocketing statewide. The Prop. 13 campaign used stories of elderly people being forced out of their lifelong homes because they could no longer afford to pay their taxes to gin up support for the measure, which locked in property taxes at 1978 levels, with only minor increases allowed each year. In a bold but under-publicized move, commercial properties snuck their way into Prop. 13, and ever since Californians have lost out on a massive source of revenue as many of CONTINUE READING: The Fight for Prop 15 Isn’t Over. It’s Just Begun. - LA Progressive

CAPITAL & MAIN: Why did the Schools and Communities First initiative lose when other progressive measures passed in California?

Proposition 15 Goes Down Swinging |

Proposition 15 Goes Down Swinging

Why did the Schools and Communities First initiative lose when other progressive measures passed in California?

The 2020 presidential election outcome was a nail-biter, but in California there was another drawn-out, high-stakes contest. On November 10, with more than 90% of the vote tabulated, the contest was called against Proposition 15, which was losing by 3.6 percentage points after a months-long campaign and a week-long ballot count.

The Schools and Communities First initiative, Prop. 15, was launched by a coalition of community organizations, the Service Employees International Union’s California State Council and the California Teachers Association to create more resources for schools and local amenities by changing the commercial and industrial properties tax structure. (Disclosure: The two unions are financial supporters of this website.)

“The anti-15 people did as the pro-13 people did—they hit the right buttons. Tax increases, housing supply—all of that resonates with the California electorate.”

— Sherry Bebitch Jeffe

Prop. 15 would have reset the assessment of California corporate property tax rates that were established by 1978’s landmark Proposition 13, assessing them at present market value. Today most annual corporate property bills are based on rates that have gone un-reassessed for decades. With Prop. 15, Disney Studios’ million-plus-square-foot lot in Burbank would no longer be assessed at $5 and change per foot while some local businesses pay around $200 for the same space.

The California Legislative Analyst estimated that the Prop. 15 reform measure could have raised between $6.5 billion and $11.5 billion a year for local governments and schools. Why then, with a $56-million-plus campaign war chest, did it lose—especially when other progressive measures passed?

“The anti-15 people did as the pro-13 people did—they hit the right buttons,” says Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior fellow at the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of CONTINUE READING: Proposition 15 Goes Down Swinging |

Danny Feingold: Why Californians Should Approve Three Ballot Propositions | Diane Ravitch's blog

Danny Feingold: Why Californians Should Approve Three Ballot Propositions | Diane Ravitch's blog

Danny Feingold: Why Californians Should Approve Three Ballot Propositions

Danny Feingold, publisher of Capitol & Main, explains why voters in California should right civil wrongs by voting for Proposition 15, 16, and 21.

He writes:

Proposition 15 would make amends for one of the most far-reaching ballot measures in American history — 1978’s era-defining Prop. 13. With its landslide passage, Prop. 13 not only upended California’s revenue stream for public education, it ushered in a taxpayer revolt that spread to cities and states across the country. In the rush to lower property taxes, California crippled one of the best K–12 public education systems in the nation while also starving local government of the funds needed for a host of essential programs.

How many libraries in poor communities closed for lack of funds, eliminating a critical refuge for both children and adults? How many programs had to turn away those in need, day after day, year after year, while frozen-in-place commercial property taxes padded the coffers of mega-land owners.

Like Prop. 15, Prop. 16 — which seeks to overturn California’s ban on considering race, sex or ethnicity in public employment, contracting and education — is politics as redemption. It speaks to our current reckoning CONTINUE READING: Danny Feingold: Why Californians Should Approve Three Ballot Propositions | Diane Ravitch's blog

Education Is on the Ballot in San Diego this November 3rd

Education Is on the Ballot in San Diego this November 3rd

Education Is on the Ballot in San Diego this November 3rd

By Jim Miller

What can you do to help education in a time of crisis?  Well, as I’ve written here in a couple of other columns, the most important thing is to vote Yes on Proposition 15, which would bring in $12 billion a year statewide and around $700 million to our region.

Given the lack of any new revenue from the state and federal levels, our schools and colleges are about to get hammered by budget cuts and years of austerity if we continue to do nothing.  And that, in turn, will be bad for the economy and the social fabric of our communities.

Proposition 15 is the only game in town in terms of answers at this point.

In my columns, I’ve noted that Prop 15 would leave homeowners untouched and (corporate talking points aside) it only affects commercial properties valued over $3 million.  But far more important than the anti-15 campaign’s diversionary argument is the devastation that awaits our educational institutions if Proposition 15 fails.

Thus, if you care about education in California, voting Yes on 15 is the most important thing you can do this election. Prop 15 will help boost our schools with a permanent revenue stream that will aid in CONTINUE READING: Education Is on the Ballot in San Diego this November 3rd

Audio: America's School Funding Crisis: Budget Cuts, Rising Costs And No Help In Sight | 89.3 KPCC

Audio: America's School Funding Crisis: Budget Cuts, Rising Costs And No Help In Sight | 89.3 KPCC

America's School Funding Crisis: Budget Cuts, Rising Costs And No Help In Sight

Back in May, school funding experts predicted a looming financial disaster for the nation's K-12 schools.

"I think we're about to see a school funding crisis unlike anything we have ever seen in modern history," warned Rebecca Sibilia, the founder of EdBuild, a school finance advocacy organization. "We are looking at devastation that we could not have imagined ... a year ago."

But those warnings, like everything else that happened in May, feel like a lifetime ago. Where do things stand now? First, a little good news:

"So we're not looking at a disastrous year this year," says Michael Griffith at the Learning Policy Institute. He says the CARES Act, signed in March, helped states avoid a short-term school funding disaster.

Remember: Schools get about half their funding from state tax revenues, which have taken a big hit in the pandemic. States were facing budget cuts in the 20-30% range, Griffith says. But thanks, in part, to those federal CARES Act dollars, it's just "a bad year," he explains — "between 15 and 20%."

The bad news is: Those cuts are still pretty deep.

"There are about 570,000 fewer local education jobs" this year compared to the start of the previous school year, says Michael Leachman, who studies state fiscal policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "Those are teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, secretaries, librarians, counselors."

Sibilia says one reason we haven't seen even more cuts is "because all of our elected leaders are putting their head in the sand."

Many politicians are wary of making big, unpopular cuts before the election, Sibilia explains, and instead are draining their rainy day funds or hiding the pain with CONTINUE READING: Audio: America's School Funding Crisis: Budget Cuts, Rising Costs And No Help In Sight | 89.3 KPCC

Choosing Democracy: Key Facts About Proposition 15

Choosing Democracy: Key Facts About Proposition 15

Key Facts About Proposition 15

Key Facts About Proposition 15, California’s Commercial Property Taxes, and Revenue for Schools and Local Communities 

Local tax revenue reflects a community’s shared effort to support vital public services that all Californians need to thrive in our cities and counties. This ranges from education for students in K-12 schools and community colleges to access to housing, health care, public parks, and libraries. These vital public services are supported by tax revenues from commercial and industrial properties – many of which are still taxed based on purchase prices that are more than four decades old. California voters will be asked in fall 2020 to vote on a measure known as Proposition 15, 

an amendment to the state Constitution that would change how commercial and industrial properties are taxed and provide more revenue for schools and local communities to support services Californians rely upon. This report outlines key facts about how Prop. 15 would change taxes for commercial and industrial properties and increase revenue for local communities. 

REPORT

Proposition 15: Schools & Local Communities Lose Revenue Due to California’s Inequitable Taxing of Commercial Properties

Understanding Inequitable Taxes on Commercial Properties and Prop. 15

Ballot Propositions · Taxes · September 2020 · By Jonathan Kaplan, Kayla Kitson, Sara Kimberlin and Mauricio Torres

Local tax revenue reflects a community’s shared effort to support vital public services that all Californians need to live in our cities and counties, such as education for students in K-12 schools and community colleges, housing, health care, public parks, and libraries. When tax breaks provide advantages to some taxpayers over others, it not only creates inequities but can also lead to revenue losses that compromise the ability of schools and local communities to provide essential services for Californians. This is the case with commercial and industrial property taxes across California, and why voters will be asked in fall 2020 to vote on Proposition 15, an amendment to the state Constitution that would change how commercial and industrial properties are taxed to provide more revenue for schools and communities. 

Under Prop. 15, commercial and industrial properties would be taxed based on their market value rather than their purchase price. By moving from a property tax system based on purchase value to one based on market value, Prop. 15 would raise an estimated $6.5 billion to $11.5 billion annually in property tax revenues for K-12 schools and community colleges, counties, cities, and special districts, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Guide to Understanding Proposition 15

• 
  
• Frequently Asked Questions: Commercial Property Tax & Revenue in California
• Report: Raising Revenue for Schools and Local Communities, Changing California’s Inequitable Taxing of Commercial Properties, and Understanding Proposition 15
• Infographic: California’s Inequitable Tax System Hurts Schools & Local Communities
• NEW: 10 Key Facts About Proposition 15 and California’s Commercial and Industrial Property Taxes

https://calbudgetcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/CA_Budget_Center_Key-Facts-Prop-15.pdf

https://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/understanding-proposition-15-inequitable-taxes/

 

Prop 15.  Overturning Austerity 101 

 

https://www.labornotes.org/2020/08/overturning-austerity-101-californias-prop-15-will-tax-rich

 

Choosing Democracy: Key Facts About Proposition 15

Behind the Ad Wars: Why You Should Ignore the Fear Mongering and Vote Yes on Proposition 15

Behind the Ad Wars: Why You Should Ignore the Fear Mongering and Vote Yes on Proposition 15

Behind the Ad Wars: Why You Should Ignore the Fear Mongering and Vote Yes on Proposition 15

By Jim Miller

By now you’ve seen them all: the litany of ads and mailers against Proposition 15 featuring worried small business owners, angst-filled barbers, and other advocates for hire trying to scare you that Proposition 15 is aimed at small businesses.  You’ve even seen a handful of craven local politicians parroting corporate talking points and throwing their communities under the bus in an effort to court the Chamber of Commerce set during campaign season by opposing a measure that would bring billions of dollars into education and vital social services.

What does Proposition 15 actually do?  It will require that commercial property valued at more than $3 million be reassessed at fair market value every three years.

• This closes a loophole that large corporations have used for decades to avoid paying their fair share of property taxes.
• The richest 10% of corporate properties will provide 92% of the revenue.
• Prop 15 specifically exempts all residential properties and agricultural land, maintaining full Prop 13 protections for homeowners, renters, and agriculture.

Thus, as I noted in an earlier column on this measure, it’s simply false to say that it will afflict the local Mom and Pop shop or pizza spot.

Why the lie then?

As Bobbi Murry recently observed in “Cash of the Titans: Prop 15’s Big Spending Opposition” in Capital and Main :

Optics are everything in politics, and if you’re a big business interest with a stake in a ballot CONTINUE READING: Behind the Ad Wars: Why You Should Ignore the Fear Mongering and Vote Yes on Proposition 15

The Skinny on Prop 15 - LA Progressive

The Skinny on Prop 15 - LA Progressive

The Skinny on Prop 15

his November, Californians will vote about whether to close a property tax loophole that favors older  commercial properties. Residential property tax is based on the property’s last sale price, not current market value, but that is not true for commercial property. Even if the market value of commercial property increases, and a sale price reflects that, the property’s tax bill does not change if less than half of the property changes hands. 

So when Michael Dell (of Dell Computers) buys a Santa Monica hotel, splitting ownership between himself, his wife and a corporation he owns, the property tax doesn’t change–the hotel is, in effect, still taxed at 1978 rates. Commercial properties throughout the state use this dodge to deprive us all of an estimated $12 billion in public money. 

Passing proposition 15 puts California on par with the way the vast majority of states treat commercial property.

Since 1978–when prop 13 passed, implementing this loophole–California schools have gone from 21st to 46th in spending per student. The condition of California bridges ranks 18th nationally, and half of its county hospitals have closed. Homeowners pay a bigger share of property tax revenues, too. In 1978, corporations paid 44% of property tax. Currently, they pay 28%, with homeowners paying the rest. 

Proposition 15 remedies this by assessing commercial properties at current market value (“split roll”). It also exempts owner-operated small businesses from reassessment until they are sold. It levels the playing field so small businesses can compete more fairly with big CONTINUE READING: The Skinny on Prop 15 - LA Progressive

Capital & Main: Why Aren’t Democrats Supporting the Rollback of Proposition 13? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Capital & Main: Why Aren’t Democrats Supporting the Rollback of Proposition 13? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Capital & Main: Why Aren’t Democrats Supporting the Rollback of Proposition 13?

Back in the late 1970s, a conservative California businessman named Howard Jarvis put a proposition on the state ballot to cap property taxes. It was called Proposition 13. It passed. It has caused massive defunding of public services, especially public education. Prop 13 “rolled back both residential and commercial property taxes in California. In so doing, the conservative businessman set in motion a cataclysmic decline in the state’s revenues, triggering devastating budget reductions to public education and a host of public services. No other ballot measure in contemporary California history comes close to rivaling the impact of Prop. 13, whose aftershocks can still be felt more than four decades later.”

This year, there is an effort to reverse Prop 13. It is called Proposition 15. It would allow the state to raise the commercial tax rate.

Larry Buhl of Capital & Main notes that a large number of prominent Democrats, including Governor Gavin Newsom, have not endorsed Prop 15, which would help the state rebuild public services and make up for the dramatic decline in tax revenues caused by the coronavirus.

Why the silence of the Dems?

As of September 1, the Yes on 15 campaign boasted more than 400 endorsers, including county supervisors, mayors, city council members, members of the state assembly and senate, and school board members. Notably absent, however, are statewide elected officials, except for Sen. Kamala Harris and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond.

42 of California’s 45 Democratic U.S. Representatives
have not endorsed Prop. 15.

Alex Stack, spokesman for Schools and Communities First, the group behind Prop. 15, told Capital & Main that SCF didn’t expect any statewide Republicans to endorse.

Also missing on the endorsement list are the state attorney general, secretary of state, 42 of the 45 CONTINUE READING: Capital & Main: Why Aren’t Democrats Supporting the Rollback of Proposition 13? | Diane Ravitch's blog