Decision: Resolution - Close the Commercial Property Loophold

Background: Efforts are underway to reform Prop 13 on the 2016 statewide ballot.  Recently the GPCA CC heard a presentation from Ben Grieff, Campaign Director and Spokesperson of Evolve CA, which is working on Prop 13 reform.  Included in that presentation was that the state Democratic Party has already taken a position on this (attached below).  The Green Party should be heard.  Currently GPCA positions on Prop 13 include our platform (http://www.cagreens.org/platform/tax-reform) and our position on Prop 30 in 2012 (http://www.cagreens.org/elections/propositions/30).

 

Proposal: That the General Assembly approve the following resolution: 

 

Close the Commercial Property Loophole

 

WHEREAS, Proposition 13, passed in 1978, is unfair in that it allows commercial property owners to avoid paying their fair share and has shifted the tax burden to residential property and away from business, including everyday homeowners and working families; and

 

WHEREAS, the state of California continues to face chronic budget crises in in large part because Proposition 13 has forced the state to rely on more volatile revenue sources than the property tax, like income taxes and sales taxes paid by working families that move in tandem with economic cycles, causing deficits and requiring cuts to vital services that grow our economy and thereby worsening economic downturns;

 

WHEREAS regularly reassessing non-residential property would, according to an analysis of data provided by the California Board of Equalization, generate at least $6 billion in additional revenue for California, and shift the tax burden from homeowners, renters, and working families to corporations and commercial landholders;

 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Green Party of California supports commercial property tax reform that will require commercial properties to be reassessed regularly while maintaining residential property owners’ protections under Prop 13; and

 

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Green Party of California will communicate this position to Green elected officials.