Fixing Prop 19

Dear Friends & Neighbors,

If, like me, you vaguely remember Prop 19, it was approved by 75% of voters statewide in Nov of 2020, and was advertised by the Board of Equalization as "The Home Protection for Seniors, Severely Disabled, Families, and Victims of Wildfire or Natural Disasters Act." Many Californians do not realize this, but with the passage of this act, they have lost the right they had for more than three decades to transfer family property between parents and children without any increase in the property tax bill. Now, with only narrow and limited exceptions, property passed from parent to child is reassessed at current market values, resulting in massive tax increases. For example, someone who has just inherited a $2 million home from a deceased parent would be paying $20,000 in taxes, while a next door neighbor living in a similarly priced home is paying $2,000 for the same government services like road maintenance, schools, and trash collection. Does this make sense? Is it affordable?

Many of my neighbors with aging parents do not seem to think so. The reason is they will not be able to afford to pay the property taxes on the home when they inherit it, and so will be forced to sell it. The state wants us to believe in affordable housing, but what about affordable taxation? Even though California voters approved the so-called "Death Tax Act," Prop 19 is sending mixed messages and now Californians are out to change it.

Under the leadership of The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, there is a massive grassroots effort underway to gather roughly 1.2 million signatures by Jan. 16th, 2024 (deadline has been extended to Feb. 5th), to place a measure that repeals the Death Tax Act on the next state ballot in November.

I signed the petition and am volunteering with other neighbors to help collect more signatures. If you have not signed the petition yet, you can download it here. Or you can go to 645 Taraval Street (between 16th & 17th Ave) and there will be a group of volunteers with paper copies for you to sign. 

Thank you always for reading. I hope you found this helpful.

Your neighbor,

Lefteris Eleftheriou