Posted on 04/13/2009 6:58:39 PM PDT by calcowgirl
DAVIS — The commission charged with recommending an overhaul of California’s tax system cautiously placed a toe on the third rail of state politics on Thursday, opening discussion of possible changes in property taxes and Proposition 13.
“This commission does not just want to discuss easy issues. We’re going to discuss the property tax,” said Gerald Parsky, chairman of the Commission on the 21st Century Economy.
The panel, created by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders, has been asked to recommend changes in state tax policy in order to stabilize government revenues and align the tax system in an economy that has changed markedly since the system was established in the 1940s.
The commission was originally supposed to release its recommendations on April 15, but received a filing extension from Schwarzenegger last week. Its new deadline is July 31.
Meeting on the UC Davis campus, commissioners said their mission is to make bold, sweeping recommendations.
“The leadership in Sacramento is looking to this commission to think boldly,” Parsky said. “We can nibble around the edges, or we can step back and be bold.”
Echoed Commissioner Christopher Edley Jr.: “We owe it to the people of California to try to be bold. It would be far better to be ambitious and fall short than to be timid.”
In meetings thus far, the commission has discussed such ideas as lowering capital gains taxes and top marginal income rates as a means to reduce the volatility of state revenues; expanding the sales tax to include certain services while lowering the sales tax rate; and even adopting a flat income tax rate that would apply across all income brackets while eliminating most deductions and credits.
Until Thursday, however, the property tax has been off limits.
There has been no significant change in property taxes in the state since the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978. It set the rate at 1 percent of the purchase price per year, allowing the amount to rise by 2 percent per year. Only when a property changes hands is the value of the property readjusted to reflect the new current market value.
As a result, property taxes in California are among the lowest in the nation. A study by the National Conference of State Legislatures ranks the state 38th in the nation in property taxes paid per $100 in personal income, and an analysis by USA Today ranked California 45th in property taxes as a percent of market value.
Discussion Thursday focused on what is known as a “split roll” property tax — a system that treats commercial and industrial property differently from residential property.
Terri Sexton, an economics professor at CSU Sacramento, noted a majority of states either assess residential property differently from commercial and industrial property, tax residences at a lower rate, or both.
“It’s not a unique thing that we’re considering here,” she said.
think boldly
lolol
ok..
The very challenge faced by every other armed robber in history. :)
Yeah, but the Sales Tax mushroomed from 3% to almost 10% in the same amount of time. AND Sales Tax is obviously automatically indexed for inflation.
"Stablize" the economy by STOP THE SPENDING.
Double oxymoron. No politician thinks, and none is bold. They do what they do because they do not have the intellectual firepower to do anything else.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Okay. End welfare. Completely.
“Boldly” = “Greedily.”
Yup!
“stabilize government revenues” = “Squeeze every dollar out of you and make sure you keep paying”
Try to act shocked when they recommend raising taxes on everything and spending more government money....
Here’s a bold idea: STOP SPENDING ON CRAP!
They have been after Prop 13 for decades. Before it passed, the libs were wailing like banshees that if it passed, all libraries would close & there would be no police or firefighters.
Everyone lived.
If they mess with Prop 13 now it will slaughter the seasoned citizens who bought homes in the 1960’s & 70’s, worked their tails off, didn’t get SUV HELOCs & paid off their mortgages in 30 yrs.
Even with the drop in property values in CA, they’d be paying taxes on today’s assessed values vs 1969 values which will be in the hundreds of thousands.
Would literally wipe out a huge number of people.
Parsky... again... blech. Another cancer that just won’t go away.
I would much prefer the legislature to “think boldly” and cut spending and taxes to the bone. We could then start rebuilding CA businesses, especially if we dumped about 3/4 of the green laws this piss poor state has enacted.
One would think that is a reasonable suggestion.
Unfortunately, liberals in Sacramento are incapable of thinking logically.
It sounds like they are planning to "split the roll" and move to raise property taxes on commercial property, not residential. As such, senior citizens can stay but don't expect any businesses to be long-term residents.
Camel nose under tent. Next it’s mom’s house. Businesses are all leaving anyway due to oppressive regulations from non elected totalitarian bureaucrats, confiscatory taxes & holy cow, look at our worker’s comp scheme.
I read today that they are tinkering with that again.
Bush and Rove destroyed the Republican party by putting that commie Parsky in charge of the state party.
He needs to be tared and feathered and tell him to get back in his jet and never discrace the party again!
YES!!!!!
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