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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Howard Jarvis Radio Show. I'm Susan Shelley,

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Speaker 1: vice president of Communications for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association,

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Speaker 1: the most influential, the largest taxpayer advocacy group in California.

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Speaker 1: We are fighting for you in the legislature, in the courts,

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Speaker 1: on the ballot, and right here tonight on the radio.

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Speaker 1: KSFO in San Francisco in the Greater Bay Area and

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Speaker 1: KABC throughout southern California. Glad to have you with us tonight.

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Speaker 1: I'm flying solo. HJTA President John Coupl is away and

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Speaker 1: Legislative Director Scott Kaufman is away, so on their behalf.

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Speaker 1: Hello and thank you for joining us. We're at eight

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Speaker 1: hundred two two two five two two two eight hundred

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Speaker 1: two two two five two two two. You know, the

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Speaker 1: Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a lot of people don't realize,

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Speaker 1: is a members supported organization. A lot of people think

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Speaker 1: it's just built into the state like a mountain, and

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Speaker 1: it looks like a mountain. But actually all the people

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Speaker 1: who care about taxes and who care about the future

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Speaker 1: of California, that's who the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association really is.

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Speaker 1: So you can be a member of this great organization.

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Speaker 1: Just go to HJTA dot org. That's our website, HJTA

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Speaker 1: dot org and click that button that says join and

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Speaker 1: be a member and strengthen your voice in California. Because

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Speaker 1: we do ballot initiatives, we do lobbying, we do outreach,

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Speaker 1: we do all kinds of education and legal work, fighting

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Speaker 1: for taxpayers, not against them, for taxpayers. And you'll get

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Speaker 1: our great newspaper, Taxing Times. Just finishing up the latest issue,

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Speaker 1: which will go out in about a month, so we're

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Speaker 1: excited about that. Eight hundred two two two five two

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Speaker 1: two two is the phone number. So our latest project

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Speaker 1: I want to give you an update is our initiative,

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Speaker 1: the Local Taxpayer Protection Act to save Proposition thirteen, and

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Speaker 1: I've looked up the latest numbers. It's in the middle

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Speaker 1: of what's called random sound simple qualification. All those petitions

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Speaker 1: that you circulated, all those petitions that you signed to

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Speaker 1: get this on the ballot, well at this moment they

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Speaker 1: are at the county offices and they are being verified.

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Speaker 1: The signatures on the petitions are being verified. The first

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Speaker 1: step in this is the rock count that's completed. We

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Speaker 1: turned in more than one point three million signatures, and

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Speaker 1: now we're in the what's called random sample verification, which

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Speaker 1: means that the counties take three percent or five hundred

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Speaker 1: whichever is more of the signatures and they verify them

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Speaker 1: and they project the total that will be valid based

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Speaker 1: on the random sample. Now, the number of signatures that

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Speaker 1: you need to qualify is eight hundred and seventy four thousand,

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Speaker 1: six hundred and forty one. But to qualify on the

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Speaker 1: random sample, we need nine hundred and sixty two thousand,

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Speaker 1: one hundred and six valid signatures. So you can follow

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Speaker 1: this count it's very exciting. It's like watching the statistics

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Speaker 1: in the baseball playoffs or the basketball playoffs. You never

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Speaker 1: know what's going to happen. We're checking the county count now.

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Speaker 1: A lot of the counties have not come in yet,

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Speaker 1: but as of March thirtieth, we have two hundred and

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Speaker 1: thirty thousand, one hundred and fourteen valid signatures a validity

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Speaker 1: rate of seventy six point one four percent. We're hoping

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Speaker 1: both those numbers go up dramatically. This is due complete

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Speaker 1: on the twenty first of April, so that's one we'll

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Speaker 1: know if we've made it on the random sample. That's

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Speaker 1: the procedure for doing this. If we don't make the

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Speaker 1: random sample, then they go to a full count. They

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Speaker 1: check every single signature and then if we qualify on that,

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Speaker 1: we might miss the November ballot this year, but we

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Speaker 1: would be on the November ballot in twenty twenty eight.

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Speaker 1: So that's the process. A lot of people have asked me,

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Speaker 1: what's going on with it? That's what's going on. We're

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Speaker 1: in random sample qualification and what does this measure do?

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Speaker 1: This measure closes Court created loopholes in Proposition thirteen. Let

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Speaker 1: me take you back to nineteen seventy eight when they

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Speaker 1: were assessing property at market rate, current market rate every year,

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Speaker 1: and the tax rate was two point sixty seven percent.

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Speaker 1: So imagine paying two point sixty seven percent of the

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Speaker 1: current market value of your property every year as a

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Speaker 1: condition of keeping it, because if you didn't pay your taxes,

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Speaker 1: the county would sell your house for you. So two

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Speaker 1: point sixty seven percent of the market value, and the

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Speaker 1: market value was skyrocketing with inflation. And that's happening again today.

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Speaker 1: But today you don't get a tax bill based on

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Speaker 1: market value. For as long as you own your property,

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Speaker 1: your assessed value can only go up a maximum of

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Speaker 1: two percent a year. So if you bought your house

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Speaker 1: ten years ago, two percent a year is the most

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Speaker 1: it could go up. You're better off then you would

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Speaker 1: have been without Prop. Thirteen. Even if you bought your

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Speaker 1: house yesterday, you're better off because Prop. Thirteen cut the

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Speaker 1: tax rate to one percent. So instead of saying two

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Speaker 1: or three percent of your assessed value, you're paying one percent.

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Speaker 1: And that's what Prop. Thirteen is doing for you and

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Speaker 1: has been doing for you for more than forty years,

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Speaker 1: or for as long as you've owned your property. Now,

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Speaker 1: in order to make sure that these governments didn't come

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Speaker 1: right after the same people for the same money by

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Speaker 1: another name, Prop thirteen has protections in it that make

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Speaker 1: it a little bit harder to raise your other taxes.

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Speaker 1: At the state level, it required a two thirds vote

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Speaker 1: of each house of the legislature to raise taxes, so

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Speaker 1: that's a protection. And at the local level, it said

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Speaker 1: all local taxes have to go on the ballot for

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Speaker 1: voter approval. That was new for local taxes and very important.

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Speaker 1: And it said that special taxes needed a two thirds vote. Now,

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Speaker 1: the courts define special taxes to mean the money is

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Speaker 1: earmarked for a special purpose. So that's where we are.

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Speaker 1: The money that is going to be for a special purpose.

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Speaker 1: If the money is committed to that earmarked for that

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Speaker 1: lead enforceable. It needs a two thirds vote. And the

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Speaker 1: other protections that were put in is that is that

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Speaker 1: you cannot have a local advoreum tax that's a tax

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Speaker 1: based on value like your other property tax. The local

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Speaker 1: governments can't put another advolrum tax on top of the

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Speaker 1: one you're already paying. And the other protection that was

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Speaker 1: so important, no transaction taxes or sales taxes on the

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Speaker 1: sale of real property. This is in the constitution right now.

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Speaker 1: No transfer taxes and no advolrum taxes and special taxes

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Speaker 1: need a two thirds vote. So what happened, Well, the

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Speaker 1: courts had other ideas. The courts decided that they were

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Speaker 1: going to erase some of these, so they created an

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Speaker 1: exception for transfer taxes if it was from a charter city,

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Speaker 1: which is a city with its own constitution, a local constitution.

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Speaker 1: Charter cities were allowed to do transfer taxes for general purposes,

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Speaker 1: but not for special per is where the money was

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Speaker 1: earmarked just general purposes. Well, where did that come from?

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Speaker 1: Right out? Of the air. Okay, that was in the

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Speaker 1: nineteen nineties, But in twenty seventeen things got completely out

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Speaker 1: of control because the State Supreme Court used ambiguous language

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Speaker 1: which suggested and was later dramatically expanded to mean that

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Speaker 1: if a tax increase is put on the ballot by

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Speaker 1: a citizens initiative with signatures on petitions, if that tax

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Speaker 1: increase has the backing of the citizens, then the constitution

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Speaker 1: doesn't apply. Now, where did that come from? Right out

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Speaker 1: of the air. So now we have this giant loophole

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Speaker 1: in your two thirds vote protection, and it's being expanded

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Speaker 1: even beyond the two thirds vote to cover the types

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Speaker 1: of taxes that weren't even allowed before, like transfer taxes

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Speaker 1: for a special purpose. It's all going through this giant

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Speaker 1: loophole in Prop. Thirteen. We can't have this because now

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Speaker 1: you have a situation where special interest groups can write

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Speaker 1: their own tax increase, collect signatures to put it on

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Speaker 1: the ballot, direct all the money to themselves, and evade

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Speaker 1: your two thirds vote protection. And that's what's happening. That's

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Speaker 1: how the sales tax went up in November twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: four in the County of Los Angeles for homelessness services.

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Speaker 1: The homelessness services groups sponsored that tax increase, directed the

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Speaker 1: money to themselves, collected the signatures campaigned to pass it,

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Speaker 1: didn't need to get to a two thirds vote. That's

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Speaker 1: how we got the mansion tax. Also in Los Angeles,

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Speaker 1: the groups that wanted the money wrote the initiative, directed

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Speaker 1: all the money to themselves, collected the signatures paid for

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Speaker 1: the campaign. Did not get a two thirds vote, and

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Speaker 1: it's the law anyway. So what does our initiative do.

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Speaker 1: Our initiative puts a stop to that. It says two

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Speaker 1: thirds vote, no matter what, no matter how it gets

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Speaker 1: on the ballot. Special taxes need a two thirds vote,

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Speaker 1: closing that loophole, and no real estate transfer taxes. Now,

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Speaker 1: sharp eyed constitutionalists will recognize this is already in the Constitution,

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Speaker 1: Article thirteen a section four. That's exactly what it says.

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Speaker 1: And now we're putting it back as if to say,

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Speaker 1: we really mean it this time, we really mean it.

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Speaker 1: So this is the Local Taxpayer Protection Act to save

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Speaker 1: Proposition thirteen. It makes it harder to raise your taxes.

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Speaker 1: That's what this is all about. This is a forty

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Speaker 1: six or forty seven year war over whether it will

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Speaker 1: or will not be easier to raise your taxes, and

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Speaker 1: we're here to say it should not be easier to

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Speaker 1: raise your taxes. You pay enough. This is the Howard

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Speaker 1: Jarvis Radio Show. I'm Susan Shelley with the Howard Jarvis

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Speaker 1: Taxpayers Association, and we're taking your calls at eight hundred

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Speaker 1: two two two five two two two. Let's talk to

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Speaker 1: Joseph in Los Angeles.

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Speaker 2: Hi, Joseph, Hi, You're going to love this one.

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Speaker 1: Okay.

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Speaker 2: I was on a on a zoom call with a

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Speaker 2: real estate attorney and I asked him if you can

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Speaker 2: draft the lease where there's the amount they have to

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Speaker 2: pay for rent and then separately they have to pay

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Speaker 2: a pro rated amount of the property taxes. Say there's

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Speaker 2: a duplex you're renting out and the property taxes are

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Speaker 2: twelve thousand dollars a year, so one thousand dollars each unit,

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Speaker 2: or one thousand dollars a month, so five hundred dollars

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Speaker 2: each unit. He says, yes, you can do that, that

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Speaker 2: is legal to do that. I go, So if the

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Speaker 2: owner dies and the property taxes go to thirty six

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars a year, now each tenant has to pay

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Speaker 2: fifteen hundred dollars a month in property taxes. He goes, no, no, no,

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Speaker 2: that's illegal. You can't raise taxes. You can't raise the rents.

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Speaker 2: I go, I didn't the government did. And what did

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Speaker 2: the lawyer say?

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Speaker 3: He said, it's illegal, you can't do that. He would

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Speaker 3: do it, but we technically they wouldn't be raising it.

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Speaker 3: It's you know, the you know nineteen you know is

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Speaker 3: raising it.

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Speaker 1: Well, that's a very that's a very good point. What's

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Speaker 1: happening is Prop nineteen took away what was previously Prop

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Speaker 1: fifty eight and Prop fifty eight said that a property

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Speaker 1: a principal residence or up to a million dollars of

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Speaker 1: other property assessed value of other property when passed between

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Speaker 1: parents and children was excluded from reassessment. So the principal

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Speaker 1: residence of any value and up to a million dollars

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Speaker 1: of assessed value of other property exempt. That was the

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Speaker 1: law from nineteen eighty six when the voters passed it

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Speaker 1: with a seventy five percent margin after the legislature put

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Speaker 1: it on the ballot with a unanimous vote. There was

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Speaker 1: strong support for this that parent child transfer exclusion had

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Speaker 1: strong support. This was nineteen eighty six, and then in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty. Prop. Nineteen took it away. It is gone

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Speaker 1: replaced with this much narrower exclusion which completely completely takes

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Speaker 1: away the protection for all commercial types of property. So

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Speaker 1: if you have a rental house, if you have even

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Speaker 1: a vacation home, anything that's not your principal residence, there's

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Speaker 1: no break at all. It gets reassessed to market value

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Speaker 1: upon transfer to your kids, and that is destroying the

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Speaker 1: plans of California families throughout the state. And it's no

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Speaker 1: good for tenants because, as you point out, if the

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Speaker 1: rent is raised or if the next tenant is paying

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Speaker 1: higher rent to cover those property taxes, it's a lot

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Speaker 1: more money for the tenants. It's a lot more money.

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Speaker 1: And really, what good is that? It could knock out

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Speaker 1: half of the affordable in California in one generation because

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Speaker 1: of this reassessment to market value, and market value is

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Speaker 1: crazy high in California. No one can control it. This

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Speaker 1: is very troubling. Now certain properties are under a rent

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Speaker 1: stabilization ordinance and that is a complicating factor. Certain properties

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Speaker 1: are not. For instance, if you rent a single family home,

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Speaker 1: you don't have any protection, So that's a sticky situation.

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Speaker 1: If the owner passes away and the kids inherit the property,

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Speaker 1: because then it's going to get reassessed. The costs are

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Speaker 1: going to be very high. The likelihood is that that

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Speaker 1: property is going to be sold, and if it's under

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Speaker 1: rent control and no one can make it pencil out

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Speaker 1: with those new costs, it's probably going to be destroyed

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Speaker 1: and replaced with something else on that property. And this

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Speaker 1: is the consequence of Prop. Nineteen. It's also not very

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Speaker 1: helpful for small family businesses that own the property that

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Speaker 1: the business is on, a restaurant, an autobody repair shop,

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Speaker 1: any kind of small business. If you own the property

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Speaker 1: and the owner passes away and the kids in here

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Speaker 1: at the property reassessed to current market value as of

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Speaker 1: the date of transfer, and trusts do not protect you

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Speaker 1: from this because assessors look right through the trust very

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Speaker 1: bad and this is something the legislature can fix. It's

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Speaker 1: very difficult to do this with signatures. It's very very difficult.

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Speaker 1: I'm not saying it can't be done, but it's very

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Speaker 1: very challenging. But the legislature did this in the first place.

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Speaker 1: They created this parent child transfer exclusion in nineteen eighty

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Speaker 1: six for very good reason. And you can see that.

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Speaker 1: It was a very good reason because it was a

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Speaker 1: unanimous vote to put this on the ballot, to create it,

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Speaker 1: and to put it on the ballot, and then a

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Speaker 1: seventy five percent vote of approval from the public. Why

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Speaker 1: are we doing this to people, Well, one argument was

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Speaker 1: that it would fund firefighters. But as it turns out,

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Speaker 1: the firefighters have gotten zero dollars from this formula that

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Speaker 1: was invented to fund firefighters from Prop. Nineteen, zero dollars

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Speaker 1: every year ever since it passed. They do the math,

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Speaker 1: they do the calculation. The Department of Finance sends out

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Speaker 1: a letter nothing this year. You get nothing every year.

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Speaker 1: Now I understand the formula is going to change, I

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Speaker 1: don't know that it's gonna help. See, the situation is

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Speaker 1: one of these math tricks. The income taxes go down,

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Speaker 1: the income tax revenue goes down because people deduct their

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Speaker 1: property taxes. So if the property tax revenue goes up

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Speaker 1: but the income tax revenue goes down, then there's never

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Speaker 1: going to be any surplus and the firefighters are never

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Speaker 1: going to get anything. And this is just one of

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Speaker 1: the worst changes to the law I've ever seen. It's

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Speaker 1: the largest property tax increase in the history of California,

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Speaker 1: and it hits people very hard, very hard. And I

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Speaker 1: hope that the legislature is listening, and I hope that

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Speaker 1: they will take some action to do something about this,

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Speaker 1: because people are hurting, and as time goes on, more

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Speaker 1: and more people will be in this terrible situation. And

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Speaker 1: it's stripping generational wealth from the first generation to build

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Speaker 1: it in some families where people have invested in a

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Speaker 1: rental home or a duplex or a small apartment building

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Speaker 1: or a business, and it's stripping that away as if

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Speaker 1: there's some sort of robber baron in the Gilded Age

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Speaker 1: and they must not be allowed to pass their wealth

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Speaker 1: to the next generation because the government must grab it.

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Speaker 1: Really robber barons, regular people in California, that's who's affected

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Speaker 1: by this. Regular families without sophisticated financial planning, without corporate

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Speaker 1: structures and teams of lawyers. Regular people who bought property

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Speaker 1: because they thought it was a solid investment to leave

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Speaker 1: something to their kids. That's who's hurt by this. What

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Speaker 1: are we doing when we do something like this? And

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Speaker 1: people were just tricked into passing Prop nineteen, and even

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Speaker 1: at that it almost didn't pass, but they were tricked

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Speaker 1: because it had all this stuff about funding firefighters, it

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Speaker 1: was helping seniors to move to a new home and

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Speaker 1: take their prop thir team base with them. That's all fine.

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Speaker 1: But this other part, this tax increase, that was in

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Speaker 1: the small print, that got a lot less attention, and

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Speaker 1: when they did talk about it, they frequently said, Oh,

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Speaker 1: it's only going to affect East Coast investors and trust

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Speaker 1: fund babies. Really no, everybody who owns a house, everybody

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Speaker 1: who owns a small business, everybody who wanted to leave

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Speaker 1: a little something to their family, who bought a rental house,

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Speaker 1: who had perhaps a child who couldn't work for some reason,

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Speaker 1: and they wanted to have an extra home for that

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Speaker 1: child to live in. But that's not the principal residence.

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Speaker 1: Narrow exclusion from reassessment under Prop nineteen, fully reassessed to

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Speaker 1: market value because it's not the principal residence of the

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Speaker 1: parent reassessed. Good luck, good luck paying those tax bills,

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Speaker 1: and there's no break from it. The best you can

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Speaker 1: get is property tax postponement, which is a program that

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Speaker 1: does help some people who are low income. That's run

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Speaker 1: by the State Controller's office. You might be eligible for

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Speaker 1: it if you're having trouble paying your property taxes. It's

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Speaker 1: essentially a loan from the state and it goes against

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Speaker 1: the property as a lean, and you can postpone your

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Speaker 1: property tax obligation for year after year until you sell

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Speaker 1: a property or otherwise leave it. So that is an

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Speaker 1: option for people, but that's not the same as not

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Speaker 1: owing it in the first place, which is far preferred.

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Speaker 1: This is the Howard Jarvis Radio Show. I'm Susan Shelley,

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Speaker 1: vice president of Communications for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

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Speaker 1: We are on eight ten KSFO and seven ninety KABC,

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Speaker 1: and if you want to text your friends who are

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Speaker 1: not near a radio, we're also on KABC dot com

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Speaker 1: and KSFO dot com. And then you can catch the podcast,

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Speaker 1: which will be up on the Howard Jarvis website at

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Speaker 1: HJTA dot org HJTA dot org. If you missed a show,

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Speaker 1: you can always catch up with the podcast HJTA dot

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Speaker 1: org or wherever you get your podcasts, look for the

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Speaker 1: Howard Jarvis Radio Show. We're at eight hundred two two

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Speaker 1: two five two two two, and we're talking taxes. We

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Speaker 1: should also talk about bonds. I happen to see today

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Speaker 1: that there is a giant, mega Godzilla of a bond,

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Speaker 1: and truly this is a Godzilla movie. Twenty three billion dollars.

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Speaker 1: You may remember in twenty twenty four we had a

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Speaker 1: big argument about whether we were going to do ten

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Speaker 1: billion dollars for school buildings and ten billion dollars for

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Speaker 1: climate change projects. They both passed. We have a lot

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Speaker 1: of debt in California, and what's this. This is twenty

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Speaker 1: three billion dollars for what it's creating the California Foundation

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Speaker 1: for Science and Health Research to hand out grants. And

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Speaker 1: the money from these bonds bonds are borrowed money, and

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Speaker 1: the taxpayers have to pay them back with interest for

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Speaker 1: like thirty years, and that makes the bond twice as

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Speaker 1: expensive as it would have been if just paid cash.

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Speaker 1: So a twenty three billion dollar bond is more like

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Speaker 1: a forty billion dollar bond forty six billion dollar bond.

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Speaker 1: Depends on the interest rates. And what are we getting

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Speaker 1: for this? We don't know what we're getting for this,

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Speaker 1: because there's language in this bill that would do this

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Speaker 1: that says they've limited public access to the meetings and

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Speaker 1: the writings because everything is you know, proprietary and intellectual property.

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Speaker 1: And they're just not going to tell us what they're funding.

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Speaker 1: They're going to fund grants, they're going to give out

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Speaker 1: the money. There's going to be a panel of people

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Speaker 1: who are appointed by politicians to oversee the handing out

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Speaker 1: of the grants. Twenty three billion dollars plus interest out

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Speaker 1: of the state budget, which has a huge deficit. By

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Speaker 1: the way, the Legislative Analysts Office says, we're running thirty

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Speaker 1: five billion dollar a year deficits out into the out years.

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Speaker 1: Thirty five billion dollars and this is twenty three billion

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Speaker 1: dollars in debt for unknown projects or California to have

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Speaker 1: its own foundation for science and health research. What could

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Speaker 1: possibly go wrong? So this is Senate Bill eight ninety five.

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Speaker 1: It has passed its first committee. If it gets all

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Speaker 1: the way through the legislature, it will be on the

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Speaker 1: November ballot for voter approval. It would need a simple majority.

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Speaker 1: Heaven help us. Twenty three billion dollars and that's just

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Speaker 1: this one bond. There could be others. There could be

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Speaker 1: bonds for housing and bonds for who knows what and

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Speaker 1: how is that money used and what's the oversight? You know,

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Speaker 1: very often when you have something where the government's not

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Speaker 1: spending the money directly. It's very difficult to do oversight.

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Speaker 1: They give a grant to university and you can't really

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Speaker 1: see how the university is spending that money or how

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Speaker 1: much they're taking for administrative costs down the line. It's

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Speaker 1: you can see it at the at the first part.

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Speaker 1: Maybe you can measure the administrative costs of operating the bond.

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Speaker 1: But then once the money goes out, how much is

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Speaker 1: going to administrative costs. Well, you can't see that because

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Speaker 1: they've limited public access to the meetings and the writings.

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Speaker 1: This has to be stopped. This is Senate Bill eight

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Speaker 1: ninety five. Do you know how to call your lawmakers?

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Speaker 1: Let me tell you how to look them up. Find

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Speaker 1: your rep. Dot legislature dot c A dot gov. Find

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Speaker 1: your rep. Dot Legislature dot c dot gov. You can

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Speaker 1: look up who represents you in the Assembly, who represents

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Speaker 1: you in the state Senate. This is Senate Bill eight

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Speaker 1: nine to five, the twenty three billion dollar research Bond

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Speaker 1: for Science and Health. Heaven help us. We also are

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Speaker 1: looking at higher sales taxes. You know I'd like to

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Speaker 1: hear from you. Do you think your sales taxes are

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Speaker 1: high enough? Yet, because there are plans up and down

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Speaker 1: the state to make them even higher. I mentioned early

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Speaker 1: that Los Angeles County has already raised the sales tax

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Speaker 1: another half percent with one of these citizen initiative tax increases.

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Speaker 1: That was for homelessness services. You know how much that's

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Speaker 1: costing you? A billion dollars a year. That is taking

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Speaker 1: one billion dollars a year out of the pockets of

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Speaker 1: people in LA County, residents or shoppers. One billion dollars

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Speaker 1: a year. Where's it going to the people who wrote

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Speaker 1: the tax increase? And what's this next one? Well, the

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Speaker 1: next one is a tax increase, that's a general tax.

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Speaker 1: This comes to us from the Board of Supervisors. This

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Speaker 1: also would only need a simple majority. But that's what

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Speaker 1: the constitution says, general tax, or what the courts have said.

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Speaker 1: The constitution says, this would be another half percent. They

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Speaker 1: say it's temporary. I have a bridge to sell you

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Speaker 1: temporary for five years half a percent, another billion dollars

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Speaker 1: a year. And then there are city proposals for additional

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Speaker 1: sales tax. What are we doing? Is it not enough yet?

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Speaker 1: Sales taxes are extremely regressive. It takes a larger proportion

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Speaker 1: of the lower income than it does of the higher income.

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Speaker 1: That's just math, and so it's harder on people who

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Speaker 1: are struggling. And what are we doing? Where is the

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Speaker 1: money going? Why are they not spending the money they've

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Speaker 1: already collected on higher priorities. That's the question you should

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Speaker 1: ask as a voter. This is the Howard Jarvis Radio Show.

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Speaker 1: We're at eight hundred two two two five two two

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Speaker 1: two eight hundred two two two five to two two.

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Speaker 1: I'm Susan Shelley with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Happy

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Speaker 1: to take your calls. Give us a ring. We'll be

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Speaker 1: right back after this. Welcome back to the Howard Jarvis

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Speaker 1: Radio Show. I'm Susan Shelley with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association,

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Speaker 1: here with you till seven o'clock live on KABC and KSFO,

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Speaker 1: pretty much the whole state of California live. Give us

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Speaker 1: a call. Eight hundred two to two two, five to

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Speaker 1: two two. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is a member

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Speaker 1: supported organization, and you can be a member. Go to

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Speaker 1: HJTA dot org and click that button that say join

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00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:18,880
Speaker 1: and sign up for the free email alerts. We'll keep

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Speaker 1: you informed about this important upcoming election. The Howard Jarvis

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Speaker 1: Taxpayers Association has an affiliated political action committee that does endorsements.

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Speaker 1: You'll find it very helpful for the local Assembly race,

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Speaker 1: the local Senate race. We're we're trying to identify the

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Speaker 1: candidates for you who are going to vote taxpayer interests first,

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Speaker 1: because you pay enough and there aren't enough people looking

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Speaker 1: out for you. In California, there's a lot of people

431
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:52,040
Speaker 1: looking out for this congo line of different groups that

432
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:55,440
Speaker 1: want your money, and boy are there a lot of them.

433
00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:57,680
Speaker 1: You know, I've just saw. I have some good news

434
00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:00,680
Speaker 1: for you. In Contra Costa County. There's going to be

435
00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:02,879
Speaker 1: a tax increase on the June ballot. That's not the

436
00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,359
Speaker 1: good news. It's five eighths of a cent. It's a temporary,

437
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:09,920
Speaker 1: so of course it is general sales tax for five

438
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:13,600
Speaker 1: years to create one hundred and fifty million dollars annually

439
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:17,280
Speaker 1: in revenue. Revenue is another word for tax increase. Funding

440
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:22,000
Speaker 1: is another word for tax increase. Resources is another word

441
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:25,199
Speaker 1: for tax increase. I'm thinking of making a Howard Jarvis

442
00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:28,480
Speaker 1: decoder ring so that you can read these ballot measures

443
00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:31,560
Speaker 1: and turn the decoder ring and find out what words

444
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:36,080
Speaker 1: they're using that really mean tax increase. When they say retain,

445
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:39,880
Speaker 1: as in we need to retain teachers or retain firefighters,

446
00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:42,600
Speaker 1: that's another way of saying they have to raise salaries,

447
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,240
Speaker 1: so that's going to be a more expensive union contract.

448
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:48,920
Speaker 1: Retain is another word for salary hike, and everything else

449
00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:52,639
Speaker 1: is pretty much a tax increase. So in Contra Costa

450
00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:56,399
Speaker 1: County there was ballot language submitted and this is for

451
00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:00,760
Speaker 1: Measure B five eighths of a percent tax increased for

452
00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:03,800
Speaker 1: five years. And the good news is that a judge

453
00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:07,480
Speaker 1: looked at it. Someone in Contracosta County challenged this ballot language,

454
00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,159
Speaker 1: and the judge said, you know, that's too biased. This

455
00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:14,560
Speaker 1: is really very encouraging because we have seen so many

456
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,280
Speaker 1: times when taxpayers have gone to court and the courts

457
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:19,680
Speaker 1: have sided with the people who want to raise your taxes,

458
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:25,280
Speaker 1: even when every reasonable interpretation would suggest the opposite. They've

459
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,120
Speaker 1: sided with the people who want to raise your taxes.

460
00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 1: But here it's really a much better ruling. So what

461
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,840
Speaker 1: the original language was is to help Contracosta County address

462
00:27:36,359 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 1: deep cuts in federal funding. The judge struck the word

463
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:45,359
Speaker 1: deep support critical local services. The judge struck the word

464
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:49,960
Speaker 1: critical such as healthcare, supplementary, food assistants, and other general

465
00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:53,680
Speaker 1: county services. And then they said and reduce the risk

466
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:57,159
Speaker 1: of closures at Contra Costa's regional hospital and health clinics.

467
00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:01,639
Speaker 1: The judge struck that out. And then language also that

468
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:05,080
Speaker 1: talked about independent citizens oversight. The judge took all that

469
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 1: out as I guess not neutral and for whatever reason.

470
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,760
Speaker 1: So that's really encouraging because when when there's a general

471
00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:16,240
Speaker 1: tax on the ballot, this is a really important point

472
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:19,479
Speaker 1: when you're reading your ballot. When there is a general tax,

473
00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,760
Speaker 1: it's going to very often be presented as this will

474
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:27,440
Speaker 1: pay four and then they list five things that were

475
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:30,680
Speaker 1: poll tested. Is very important. Could be fixed, the sidewalks

476
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,920
Speaker 1: could be clean up, the trash could be police, fire,

477
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:40,040
Speaker 1: paramedic services, could be hospitals, whatever it is. When you

478
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:44,040
Speaker 1: get to the last sentence and it says or other

479
00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 1: general county services or city services, general is the word

480
00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:54,280
Speaker 1: to watch for because that means they can spend it

481
00:28:54,440 --> 00:29:00,320
Speaker 1: on anything anything. They can spend it on redeck, reading

482
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 1: their offices, booking limousines, getting sports tickets. They can spend

483
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,760
Speaker 1: it on anything, and it's legal, so it doesn't matter

484
00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:12,120
Speaker 1: that they say there's oversight, the overseers look at it

485
00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:14,120
Speaker 1: and let's say, did you spend the money, and they'll say, yes,

486
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:18,280
Speaker 1: it's okay, you're good. That's the report, Thank you very much.

487
00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:23,880
Speaker 1: That's what you have to watch for. General means they

488
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:25,840
Speaker 1: don't have to spend it on what they're telling you

489
00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:28,360
Speaker 1: they're going to spend it on. And sometimes when these

490
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:30,960
Speaker 1: things are five year taxes, even if they start out

491
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:34,479
Speaker 1: with good intentions, it doesn't stay that way. We're at

492
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:37,120
Speaker 1: eight hundred two two two five two two two. This

493
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:40,240
Speaker 1: is the Howard Jarvis Radio Show. I'm Susan Shelley with

494
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:45,360
Speaker 1: the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Look us up HJTA dot org.

495
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,560
Speaker 1: Be a member, And tonight eight hundred two two two

496
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,040
Speaker 1: five two two two, let's talk to Kathleen. Kathleen. Is

497
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:56,560
Speaker 1: it Kathleen in Chino hills Ki. Thanks for Kathy, Kathy,

498
00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:57,480
Speaker 1: thanks for calling.

499
00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,880
Speaker 4: If the connection is that, I'll just ask why Howard

500
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:07,640
Speaker 4: Jarvis taxpayers went for Gloria Romero. I happened to like

501
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:11,320
Speaker 4: even though he's a kind of a grassroots is David Kollenberger,

502
00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:16,720
Speaker 4: and I just would like to hear why you think

503
00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 4: she's the better candidate.

504
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 1: Did we I'm not aware that the pack endorsed her.

505
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:25,480
Speaker 1: I'm recused from the endorsements because i have another role

506
00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:28,240
Speaker 1: with the newspapers. But I'm not sure that Hjata endorsed

507
00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,760
Speaker 1: in that race. Do you have that in writing someplace?

508
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:36,479
Speaker 4: No, I'm pretty sure I saw it somewhere, but I'm driving,

509
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:40,600
Speaker 4: so I can't. But it intrigues me because I tried

510
00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:43,280
Speaker 4: so hard to get people interested in hearing what he

511
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:45,760
Speaker 4: had to say, and I listened to a lot of

512
00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 4: radio and I'm really disappointed, even to the point of

513
00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:54,880
Speaker 4: the Hispanic Republicans trying to hear him out, and he

514
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 4: got a deaf air. And he's a farmer, he's up north.

515
00:30:57,840 --> 00:30:59,920
Speaker 4: I'm even down here in the South, but he knows why,

516
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:06,920
Speaker 4: you know, fuel and even businessman. And I was intrigued,

517
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:11,840
Speaker 4: especially with some of the the old re treads we

518
00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:13,120
Speaker 4: get well.

519
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:15,600
Speaker 1: We always encourage people to read their ballots and read

520
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:18,200
Speaker 1: the candidate statements and take a look at everybody. We

521
00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:21,480
Speaker 1: do make recommendations from our Political Action Committee. As I said,

522
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:25,320
Speaker 1: I'm personally recused from that process, but you can find

523
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:27,560
Speaker 1: our when they're not on our website yet. But they're

524
00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:29,560
Speaker 1: just about to be in fact when I get off

525
00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:31,520
Speaker 1: this radio show. That's one of the things I have

526
00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:33,680
Speaker 1: to work on is getting everything on our website and

527
00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:37,000
Speaker 1: getting it updated. We will have in Taxing Times, which

528
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:39,400
Speaker 1: mails out the first week of May, just about the

529
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,760
Speaker 1: time the ballots are mailed. We will have our endorsements

530
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:45,560
Speaker 1: in Taxing Times. We will have our official endorsements on

531
00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:48,120
Speaker 1: our website. Other things that you get in the mail

532
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:52,440
Speaker 1: are sometimes what's called slate mailers, and we don't do

533
00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:55,520
Speaker 1: slate mailers at HJTA, so that's not from us. It

534
00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:57,880
Speaker 1: may be from a sympathetic group, but it's not from us.

535
00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:01,880
Speaker 1: When you get these these mailers, it's important to know this.

536
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:03,800
Speaker 1: I think I should really talk about this a little bit.

537
00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:07,800
Speaker 1: There's a lot of different kinds of campaign advertising, and

538
00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:10,080
Speaker 1: one of the types that seems to be unique to

539
00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:13,400
Speaker 1: California is this slate mailer. And it'll say on it

540
00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:16,440
Speaker 1: that it's from the police, or it'll say it's from firefighters.

541
00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:19,600
Speaker 1: It'll say it's from a senior's organization, or it's from

542
00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:24,280
Speaker 1: whatever kind of group they've identified as a target of

543
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:29,760
Speaker 1: voters for the measures, and they're just advertising the people

544
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,360
Speaker 1: on there have typically paid to be on there. If

545
00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:34,600
Speaker 1: there's an asterisk next to their name, then they paid

546
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,160
Speaker 1: for that advertising to be mailed to you. They might

547
00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 1: be great, but there is no such actual organization that

548
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:46,240
Speaker 1: is endorsing them. It's advertising, and you have to read

549
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:49,280
Speaker 1: it very carefully. For that reason. You may find things

550
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,160
Speaker 1: that look like they're from the Democratic Party that are not,

551
00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 1: things that look like they're from the Republican Party that

552
00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 1: are not. Could have a donkey, could have an elephant,

553
00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:01,040
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's from the official party. So you have

554
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:04,040
Speaker 1: to get the magnifying glass and you have to read

555
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:08,200
Speaker 1: the small print to see who it's actually from. It's advertising,

556
00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:10,200
Speaker 1: and as I said, the people on there might be

557
00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:13,400
Speaker 1: great or they might not be great. But you have

558
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:16,680
Speaker 1: to make your own decision on that. Now, the Howard

559
00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:20,480
Speaker 1: Jarvis Taxpayers Association Political Action Committee, that's not advertising. We

560
00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:23,880
Speaker 1: don't take any money from the candidates. We have a process.

561
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:26,840
Speaker 1: Our legislative director, Scott Kaufman and the other people on

562
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:31,240
Speaker 1: the HJTA board and leadership, they work on those and

563
00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,280
Speaker 1: they research the candidates and they talk to the candidates

564
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:38,400
Speaker 1: and everybody who's endorsed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer's Association

565
00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:43,400
Speaker 1: Pack fills out a questionnaire first that says they support

566
00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:49,280
Speaker 1: Prop thirteen because this organization doesn't endorse anybody who doesn't

567
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:53,920
Speaker 1: support Prop thirteen. And why is that. The reason is

568
00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:58,320
Speaker 1: because it's our mission to defend taxpayers and to defend

569
00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:01,480
Speaker 1: Prop thirteen. Thirteen, as I said at the top of

570
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,560
Speaker 1: the show, is what prevents your property taxes from going

571
00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:08,160
Speaker 1: up as fast as the market value does, so that

572
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:11,640
Speaker 1: you are not taxed out of your home by rising

573
00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:15,479
Speaker 1: property taxes. Maybe you know some people who have moved

574
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:19,560
Speaker 1: to another state and have called you up and have said,

575
00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:22,680
Speaker 1: everything's great here. I love it. I don't like the humidity,

576
00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:25,000
Speaker 1: but I love everything else. But I don't like the

577
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:29,759
Speaker 1: fact that property taxes are so high. And maybe they're

578
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:32,080
Speaker 1: in a state life Texas, that has no income tax,

579
00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:36,920
Speaker 1: but the property taxes they go up with market value,

580
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:43,280
Speaker 1: and that is very disruptive to your life. When that happens.

581
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,360
Speaker 1: You buy a house, you stretched buy a house in

582
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:48,920
Speaker 1: almost every case, you get as much of what you

583
00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:53,359
Speaker 1: want as you can possibly afford. If the next year

584
00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:57,239
Speaker 1: market values go up ten percent and you get a

585
00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:01,080
Speaker 1: property tax bill that's based on that, especially if there's

586
00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:03,320
Speaker 1: no cap on the tax rate, as there was no

587
00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:06,320
Speaker 1: cap before Prop thirteen, and it could be two percent

588
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:10,400
Speaker 1: three percent of your market value. You're going to be

589
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:13,200
Speaker 1: forced to sell that house that you just bought because

590
00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:16,840
Speaker 1: you can't cover those extra property tax bills. And that

591
00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:20,520
Speaker 1: can happen to you every year. And if you're retired

592
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:23,600
Speaker 1: or otherwise, if you just have a stable income and

593
00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:26,720
Speaker 1: it's not going to surge to cover these inflationary costs.

594
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:31,120
Speaker 1: How disruptive is that you're raising a family, you have

595
00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:32,840
Speaker 1: to take your kids out of school, you have to

596
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:37,759
Speaker 1: move all because of property tax increases. Prop thirteen stopped that.

597
00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:41,919
Speaker 1: Prop thirteen said, for as long as you own your home,

598
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:46,320
Speaker 1: your assessed value cannot go up more than two percent

599
00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:49,480
Speaker 1: a year, and the property tax rate is capped at

600
00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:53,440
Speaker 1: one percent. You think we protect that, You bet we

601
00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:56,160
Speaker 1: protect that. I'm proud to be one of the personal

602
00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:59,800
Speaker 1: bodyguards of Proposition thirteen. I think is one of the

603
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:04,160
Speaker 1: best pieces of public policy that have ever been done

604
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:07,759
Speaker 1: in tax policy anywhere. And one of the reasons for

605
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:11,040
Speaker 1: that is because the cities and the counties have a stable,

606
00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:16,040
Speaker 1: rising source of revenue, maybe it doesn't go up as

607
00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:18,040
Speaker 1: fast as they would like. Their spending to go up.

608
00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:21,280
Speaker 1: They do overspend quite a bit, quite a bit beyond

609
00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:25,880
Speaker 1: what the revenue growth is. But it's a steady rising

610
00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:29,480
Speaker 1: source of revenue because two percent a year, two percent

611
00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:32,560
Speaker 1: a year, and then as property turns over, it's reassessed

612
00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:34,759
Speaker 1: to market value, and then it's locked in at two

613
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:38,520
Speaker 1: percent a year, two percent a year, and everybody's better off.

614
00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:42,520
Speaker 1: Everybody's better off. Some people say that Prop thirteen is

615
00:36:42,680 --> 00:36:45,920
Speaker 1: locking people into their homes, but that's not true because

616
00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:49,080
Speaker 1: once you're over fifty five, you can sell your home

617
00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:53,359
Speaker 1: and take your base year value with you. You could

618
00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:56,760
Speaker 1: do that before Prop nineteen, under Prop sixty and Prop ninety,

619
00:36:57,160 --> 00:36:59,919
Speaker 1: which I think were from the early nineties late eighties,

620
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:03,440
Speaker 1: and you could take your property, your base your value

621
00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:07,200
Speaker 1: to another county that accepted the transfers, or within the

622
00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:10,960
Speaker 1: same county. Now under Prop nineteen, the good part of

623
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:13,920
Speaker 1: that was you can take your base year value to

624
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:17,360
Speaker 1: any county, so you can go to another house and

625
00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:20,200
Speaker 1: not have a property tax increase. You are not locked

626
00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:23,280
Speaker 1: in to staying in your house because of property taxes.

627
00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:27,719
Speaker 1: What locks you in capital gains taxes? And why is that?

628
00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:31,959
Speaker 1: That's another inflation story isn't it. You buy a house

629
00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:33,959
Speaker 1: for I don't know, let's pick a number, four hundred

630
00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:36,560
Speaker 1: thousand dollars years ago and today it's worth a million

631
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:40,320
Speaker 1: five and if you sell it, you owe capital gains

632
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:43,799
Speaker 1: tax state and federal, and the state capital gains tax

633
00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:48,200
Speaker 1: is the same as the income tax rate. So congratulations,

634
00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:51,239
Speaker 1: you're rich. You've got all this money coming in in

635
00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:53,920
Speaker 1: capital gains from your one sale of your house. The

636
00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:58,560
Speaker 1: state's taking thirteen point three percent of it ouch on

637
00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:01,320
Speaker 1: top of the federal take, so you could lose forty

638
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:05,879
Speaker 1: percent of what you just profited to taxes. Why would

639
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:09,600
Speaker 1: you do that? That's what's locking people in. People who

640
00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:12,040
Speaker 1: bought a house in Santa Barbara years ago when it

641
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:15,360
Speaker 1: wasn't expensive, and now it's crazy expensive, and they're not

642
00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:18,719
Speaker 1: going to give forty percent to the tax man when

643
00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:23,200
Speaker 1: they sell there does not, So that's what's locking people in.

644
00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:27,560
Speaker 1: If you're interested in helping people who want to move move,

645
00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:30,000
Speaker 1: that's the way to do it is to address that

646
00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:34,840
Speaker 1: capital gains problem, not to take away Prop thirteen and say, gosh,

647
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:37,320
Speaker 1: let's see how many people we can tax out of

648
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:40,920
Speaker 1: their homes and make homeless. Let's see how many we

649
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:44,680
Speaker 1: can do that by taking away Prop thirteen from property owners.

650
00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:48,880
Speaker 1: As you're probably aware, most of the talk about attacking

651
00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:52,759
Speaker 1: Prop thirteen always starts with commercial property, and usually with

652
00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:57,160
Speaker 1: the myth that Prop thirteen wasn't intended to cover commercial property.

653
00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:00,440
Speaker 1: That's completely false. The voters were well aware. It was

654
00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:04,040
Speaker 1: in the ballot arguments that most of the I think

655
00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:06,359
Speaker 1: they said two thirds at the time in nineteen seventy eight,

656
00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:09,080
Speaker 1: two thirds of the benefit would go to commercial properties.

657
00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:13,040
Speaker 1: But voters chose that anyway. There was another measure on

658
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:15,520
Speaker 1: the ballot, Prop eight, on the same ballot in nineteen

659
00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:19,520
Speaker 1: seventy eight, that the legislature put there, and that would

660
00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:21,800
Speaker 1: have allowed a split role, that would have allowed different

661
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:26,120
Speaker 1: property tax rates for businesses and for homeowners. The voters

662
00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:32,360
Speaker 1: turned it down. Why because obviously, if you raise taxes

663
00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:37,919
Speaker 1: on businesses, you raise prices to consumers. Businesses don't really

664
00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:41,319
Speaker 1: pay taxes. They pass it through or they go out

665
00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:43,640
Speaker 1: of business. I mean, there's a point at which you

666
00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:45,640
Speaker 1: can only sell a donut for so much and then

667
00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:48,279
Speaker 1: you're out of business. But if you can pass it through,

668
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:51,320
Speaker 1: you pass it through. And voters turned it down in

669
00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:55,120
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight, and they turned it down in twenty

670
00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:58,799
Speaker 1: twenty because Proposition fifteen was on the ballot, put there

671
00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:02,359
Speaker 1: by the California Teachers Association. They collected signatures to put

672
00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:05,120
Speaker 1: Prop fifteen on the ballot. And what that would have

673
00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:08,759
Speaker 1: done is create a split role where commercial property would

674
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:10,640
Speaker 1: have been taxed at a different rate. It would have

675
00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:13,080
Speaker 1: been brought up to market value every year.

676
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:13,960
Speaker 4: Ugh.

677
00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:19,600
Speaker 1: Imagine hotels, restaurants, office buildings, movie theaters, self storage facilities,

678
00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:23,040
Speaker 1: small properties, big properties, everything would have been reassessed to

679
00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:26,440
Speaker 1: market value every year. It's hard to stay in business

680
00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:29,960
Speaker 1: in California. Imagine if we did that and the voters

681
00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:33,640
Speaker 1: did imagine it, and they turned it down again. So

682
00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:36,680
Speaker 1: now we have one of the candidates for Governor, Tom Steyer,

683
00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:40,640
Speaker 1: basing his campaign on destroying Prop thirteen and taxing commercial

684
00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:43,760
Speaker 1: property at market value. Can I just say on behalf

685
00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:49,960
Speaker 1: of all the people who care about the future of California. No, No,

686
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:54,920
Speaker 1: we're not destroying Prop thirteen. We're not going to allow

687
00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:59,799
Speaker 1: these governments to continuously raise taxes even faster than they're

688
00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:03,560
Speaker 1: all ready raising them, with this automated inflation helping them

689
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:06,439
Speaker 1: to raise taxes without having to vote on it. Isn't

690
00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:09,200
Speaker 1: that handy? They liked that a lot of the nineteen seventies.

691
00:41:09,719 --> 00:41:13,880
Speaker 1: Howard Jarvis had five tries before he got Prop thirteen

692
00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:17,279
Speaker 1: on the ballot, and the legislature had every opportunity to

693
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:20,440
Speaker 1: do something to help people who were in this situation

694
00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:23,800
Speaker 1: of being inflated out of their homes, and they didn't

695
00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:26,520
Speaker 1: do anything. And Prop thirteen went on the ballot and

696
00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:29,600
Speaker 1: people were so mad. They were so mad that it

697
00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:32,000
Speaker 1: passed with nearly sixty five percent of the vote, and

698
00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:36,560
Speaker 1: he is still supported by about two thirds of California voters.

699
00:41:37,560 --> 00:41:41,080
Speaker 1: Because how much money are you going to give them

700
00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:45,960
Speaker 1: to waste, to give away to fraudsters, to not do

701
00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:48,200
Speaker 1: what they promised they were going to do, to not

702
00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:51,279
Speaker 1: clean the sidewalks and fix the potholes and make the

703
00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:54,759
Speaker 1: streets safe, to not pay the fire department. How much

704
00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:58,160
Speaker 1: money are you going to give them to waste instead

705
00:41:58,160 --> 00:42:01,600
Speaker 1: of paying for priorities. I know I've had enough. I'm

706
00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:04,480
Speaker 1: voting no on every tax increase that's on my ballot.

707
00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:08,759
Speaker 1: I really I advise everybody to do that. And there's

708
00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:13,040
Speaker 1: another plan you've heard about, the wealth tax. The wealth

709
00:42:13,160 --> 00:42:17,239
Speaker 1: tax is really scary because it's being sold as just

710
00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:21,359
Speaker 1: on billionaires, just on billionaires, five percent of everything they

711
00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:25,279
Speaker 1: have goes to the state of California. Wherever it is

712
00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:29,280
Speaker 1: in the world. California wants five percent of it, just once,

713
00:42:30,040 --> 00:42:32,719
Speaker 1: just once. It says, now, this is an initiative. This

714
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:35,240
Speaker 1: is not coming from your elected officials. This is coming

715
00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:39,680
Speaker 1: from the SEIU UHW, which is a union, a healthcare

716
00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:43,239
Speaker 1: workers union, and they are paying quite a bit of

717
00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:45,279
Speaker 1: money to collect signatures. I have a note here that

718
00:42:45,400 --> 00:42:48,840
Speaker 1: they just put in another ten million dollars or so

719
00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:53,239
Speaker 1: to collect signatures to put this wealth tax on the

720
00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:57,279
Speaker 1: November ballot. And it would supposedly only affect the ultra rich.

721
00:42:57,320 --> 00:42:59,360
Speaker 1: It would only affect about two hundred people, but I

722
00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:02,440
Speaker 1: think that number has been cut substantially because they're leaving

723
00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:07,480
Speaker 1: Our California billionaires have turned into Texas, Florida, Idaho billionaires.

724
00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:12,279
Speaker 1: They're out. But even if they stay, how likely is

725
00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:15,879
Speaker 1: it that this stays at the billion dollar income level.

726
00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:19,640
Speaker 1: I'm here to tell you that every single tax that

727
00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:22,359
Speaker 1: was started out as just on the rich has come

728
00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:27,040
Speaker 1: all the way down to regular people living paycheck to paycheck.

729
00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:31,279
Speaker 1: The income tax, the Social Security withholding all of it,

730
00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:35,439
Speaker 1: it's all increased dramatically, and the numbers keep coming down

731
00:43:35,880 --> 00:43:38,520
Speaker 1: for how many people have to pay it. So imagine

732
00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:40,560
Speaker 1: that they set up this system for the wealth tax,

733
00:43:40,600 --> 00:43:43,080
Speaker 1: because currently there's nothing like that. So you'd have to

734
00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:45,720
Speaker 1: have the Franchise Tax Board come up with some system

735
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:52,120
Speaker 1: for evaluating everybody's compliance with this tax. What's that going

736
00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:56,040
Speaker 1: to look like? And suppose they set it up now

737
00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:58,879
Speaker 1: they can bring the number down. Now, they can bring

738
00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:01,840
Speaker 1: it down to ten million dollar. Then they can include

739
00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:07,280
Speaker 1: retirement accounts, and they can include the equity in your house.

740
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:11,160
Speaker 1: And if they add up everything it's not enough money,

741
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:15,520
Speaker 1: they can drop the income level again. And it doesn't

742
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:18,399
Speaker 1: have to be one time. They can do it every year.

743
00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:20,239
Speaker 1: They can do it every ten years, they can do

744
00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:25,160
Speaker 1: it whenever they want. What are we doing inventing new

745
00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:30,160
Speaker 1: taxes on the people of California? You pay enough, You

746
00:44:30,239 --> 00:44:33,800
Speaker 1: pay hidden taxes. Also on energy, as you're probably well aware,

747
00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:38,080
Speaker 1: we're paying the highest gas prices. And why because we

748
00:44:38,239 --> 00:44:42,240
Speaker 1: have a lot of policies that increase costs to fossil

749
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:45,360
Speaker 1: fuel companies, to oil companies, and some of that is

750
00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:48,880
Speaker 1: designed to penalize them in order to encourage the development

751
00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:52,080
Speaker 1: of green energy, like our Low Carbon Fuel Standard is

752
00:44:52,160 --> 00:44:55,879
Speaker 1: essentially a credit trading scheme that adds costs to oil

753
00:44:55,960 --> 00:45:01,920
Speaker 1: companies and subsidizes not oil companies, but we need oil.

754
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:06,479
Speaker 1: So the upshot of it is that you're just paying

755
00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:09,640
Speaker 1: more for it. And the Cap and Trade program is

756
00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:13,000
Speaker 1: another one that's designed to put a price on greenhouse

757
00:45:13,040 --> 00:45:16,359
Speaker 1: gas emissions. And the price they put on greenhouse gas

758
00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:20,440
Speaker 1: emissions is in your electricity bill, it's in your gasoline bills,

759
00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:23,000
Speaker 1: it's in the price of everything that's made or moved

760
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:25,960
Speaker 1: in California. Why are we doing this? Why are we

761
00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:29,280
Speaker 1: doing this? You pay enough, and that's why you should

762
00:45:29,360 --> 00:45:32,120
Speaker 1: join the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association because we're going to

763
00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:34,280
Speaker 1: keep you informed about the stuff that's on your ballot.

764
00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:36,960
Speaker 1: You do have the right to vote on taxes, and

765
00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:38,680
Speaker 1: let me tell you that there is a measure that

766
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:42,480
Speaker 1: is qualified under another one of our initiatives, Prop two

767
00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:45,840
Speaker 1: eighteen from nineteen ninety six. There's an initiative that is

768
00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:48,680
Speaker 1: qualified for the ballot in the City of Los Angeles

769
00:45:48,760 --> 00:45:53,000
Speaker 1: that would repeal the gross receipts tax on businesses. Now,

770
00:45:53,080 --> 00:45:55,000
Speaker 1: it remains to be seen whether it will really be

771
00:45:55,120 --> 00:45:57,680
Speaker 1: on the November ballot because it could be negotiated off

772
00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:01,239
Speaker 1: for some other kind of tax break or something else.

773
00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:03,640
Speaker 1: But if it's on the November ballot, that would be

774
00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:06,239
Speaker 1: an example of how the voters in this state have

775
00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:11,400
Speaker 1: the right under the Constitution to repeal any tax assessment

776
00:46:11,680 --> 00:46:16,000
Speaker 1: fee or charge, repeal or reduce, and you can do

777
00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:19,520
Speaker 1: that with a lower signature threshold than you typically need

778
00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:22,919
Speaker 1: for local initiatives. That's in prop To eighteen Section three.

779
00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:26,360
Speaker 1: You can look it up. It's the prop To eighteen

780
00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:30,440
Speaker 1: Section three initiative process, and you can use it to

781
00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:34,839
Speaker 1: reduce sales taxes, to reduce trash fees, to reduce any

782
00:46:35,239 --> 00:46:41,240
Speaker 1: local tax assessment fee or charge. Very powerful stuff because

783
00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:45,239
Speaker 1: it's adding up on your tax bill, it's adding up

784
00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:49,440
Speaker 1: on your receipts. It's a lot that you're paying, and

785
00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:51,600
Speaker 1: what are you getting for it? What are you getting

786
00:46:51,640 --> 00:46:54,440
Speaker 1: for it? We're very concerned about the waste and the fraud.

787
00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:57,000
Speaker 1: I'm glad to see that there are more people here

788
00:46:57,120 --> 00:47:01,120
Speaker 1: investigating it. Maybe we'll maybe we'll get some some changes,

789
00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:05,160
Speaker 1: and that would be awesome, because wow, you're paying a lot.

790
00:47:06,719 --> 00:47:09,360
Speaker 1: This is the Howard Jarvis Radio Show. I'm Susan Shelley

791
00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:12,920
Speaker 1: with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Eight hundred two two

792
00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:15,840
Speaker 1: two five two two two is the phone number, and

793
00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:20,319
Speaker 1: you can find our website at hj TA dot org.

794
00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:24,239
Speaker 1: Hj TA dot org. I have some notes here on

795
00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:27,440
Speaker 1: other things that are pending. There are two southern California

796
00:47:27,520 --> 00:47:31,000
Speaker 1: cities putting a quarters cent sales tax on the June

797
00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:34,560
Speaker 1: ballot because of new casino regulations. These are the cities

798
00:47:34,600 --> 00:47:38,160
Speaker 1: of Bell Gardens and Commerce. This is in addition to

799
00:47:38,239 --> 00:47:40,800
Speaker 1: the other countywide sales tax that's going to be on

800
00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:43,400
Speaker 1: the La County ballot, and the reason for this is

801
00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:46,799
Speaker 1: new card room regulations from Attorney General Rob Banta. They

802
00:47:46,840 --> 00:47:49,799
Speaker 1: say that this is a fiscal emergency that the card

803
00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:51,400
Speaker 1: rooms are not going to be able to offer the

804
00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:54,840
Speaker 1: same games that they've been offering, and that is a

805
00:47:54,960 --> 00:47:58,560
Speaker 1: long standing fight between the card rooms and the Indian tribes,

806
00:47:58,600 --> 00:48:01,880
Speaker 1: the gaming tribes and the casinos that they run a

807
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:06,120
Speaker 1: long standing argument about whether they have exclusivity or they don't.

808
00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:08,360
Speaker 1: So watch for that if you live in Bell Gardens

809
00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:11,479
Speaker 1: and Commerce. And there's going to be an initiative trying

810
00:48:11,520 --> 00:48:14,200
Speaker 1: to raise the minimum wage in Alameda County to thirty

811
00:48:14,280 --> 00:48:18,200
Speaker 1: dollars they're going to start signature gathering. That would be

812
00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:21,600
Speaker 1: another one of these. Let me see, that's not an

813
00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:25,280
Speaker 1: upland tax, because it's not a tax, it's a minimum

814
00:48:25,360 --> 00:48:27,040
Speaker 1: wage increase. But we're seeing a lot of these. We're

815
00:48:27,040 --> 00:48:32,239
Speaker 1: seeing a tax on high salaries CEO companies where they

816
00:48:32,280 --> 00:48:34,719
Speaker 1: pay their CEO a lot. So watch for those in

817
00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:37,480
Speaker 1: San Francisco and I think in Los Angeles. We're the

818
00:48:37,520 --> 00:48:41,320
Speaker 1: Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and we are here defending you

819
00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:45,840
Speaker 1: from higher taxes. HJTA dot org. Be a member of

820
00:48:45,960 --> 00:48:49,440
Speaker 1: this great organization. We're out of time, so on behalf

821
00:48:49,640 --> 00:48:54,920
Speaker 1: of HJATA. President John Coupal, Legislative Director Scott Kaufman. I'm

822
00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:58,040
Speaker 1: Susan Shelley, vice president of Communications for the Howard Jarvis

823
00:48:58,120 --> 00:49:01,239
Speaker 1: Taxpayers Association. Thank you for being with us and we'll

824
00:49:01,239 --> 00:49:01,960
Speaker 1: see you next week.