On 8/14/2017 8:09 PM, jbeattie wrote:

snip

Well, that's just wrong -- particularly for you. AFAIK, property taxes in California may pay a tiny part of certain transportation projects -- like mass transit, highway lighting or pot-hole filling. They're not being used to build bike paths. Look at your tax bill and see if there are any bonds for bicycle infrastructure. And read this: http://www.calbike.org/funding_sources After Prop 13, there are few property tax dollars for transportation projects. Maybe SMS can weigh in on this. But I do know you pay practically nothing for property tax. I probably paid that much 20 years ago for a dinger house in a sketchy part of town.

Oh no, don't get me started on Prop 13, the third rail of California
politics!

The issue with Prop 13 is that it was sold to voters as a way for
homeowners to avoid being subjected to unrealistic property taxes due to
paper increases in their home's assessed value. While I think maybe a
fixed 2% limit was too low in some cases, too high in others, 2% per
year is fair enough. For owner-occupied residential property. Period.

But it was commercial real estate interests that were behind Prop 13.
And owners of commercial property found ways to skirt Prop 13 even when
selling commercial property, to prevent reassessment.

My feeling on Prop 13 is that it should apply solely to owner-occupied
residential property, limit 2. What we have in my city is a lot of
rental property that is paying a pittance in property tax and parcel
taxes, and it's chock full of families with multiple children in the
public schools. They're paying insanely high rent, but that money isn't
going to the schools, or to any public benefit. There is also the issue
of homeowners with very low property tax allowing their adult children
with their own children to take over their house, pay very low property
taxes, yet send the kids to public school. Who subsidizes these kids?
The recent homeowners paying astronomical property taxes.

A house in my neighborhood, and it's not in the rich section of town,
would have property taxes of about $25,000 per year if it were sold today.

The People's Republic of Berkeley did something really smart, they base
parcel taxes on square feet, not parcels. So a 100 unit apartment
building doesn't get away with paying one parcel tax while a 100 unit
condo complex pays 100 parcel taxes. That change to the the tax system
passed 88% to 12%.

I was talking to a CPA yesterday, and she was explaining what is really
wrong with California when it comes to small businesses. It's how
expensive it is to operate as an LLC, and the dual taxation you're
subjected to. The purpose of an LLC is to put a wall between the
businesses assets and the business owner's personal assets. But the cost
of operating as an LLC is so high in California that she advises people
to just operate as a sole proprietorship and to buy a very large
umbrella insurance policy to protect their personal assets, because the
umbrella policy will cost a lot less than paying taxes as an LLC. Jay
would know more about this than I do!


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