Commentary | CalTax

Looming Local Taxes Could Force Many Employers to Close Forever

May 15, 2020

By CalTax Policy and Communications Associate Dustin Weatherby Californians rejected 142 of 237 local tax and bond measures on the March ballot. Normally, this would suggest that voters are signaling that taxes are too high, giving pause to local leaders contemplating tax hikes this fall. However, everything has changed. With the COVID-19 global pandemic’s impact on business and employment, many local governments are contemplating higher taxes to address their fiscal challenges. Rather than enjoying the continued record economic expansion and…

CalTax Commentary: What Los Angeles County’s ‘Educational’ Materials Won’t Tell You About Measure FD

February 7, 2020

Commentary

By CalTax President Robert Gutierrez This commentary was published this week in the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Los Angeles Daily News, Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Torrance Daily Breeze and Whittier Daily News. Los Angeles County officials are doing what they always do when county-sponsored tax increases are on the ballot – using your tax dollars to campaign for the tax hike under the fiction that they are just trying to educate voters. The County Fire Department’s “impartial” slideshow on…

CalTax Commentary: Why Are Voters Facing 234 Local Tax Measures With Government Revenue at Record High?

January 24, 2020

Commentary

By CalTax Policy and Communications Associate Dustin Weatherby This column was published this week by the Los Angeles Daily News, Orange County Register and Riverside Press-Enterprise. When Californians go to the polls in March, they will narrow the field of presidential candidates, decide a $15 billion school bond and face hundreds of local tax measures. There are 234 local tax and bond measures on the March ballot, a 169 percent increase compared to the 2016 presidential primary election. In the June 2016…

CalTax Commentary: Column by Split-Roll Supporter Ignored the Reality of the Proposition 13 Vote

February 6, 2018

Commentary

By David Kline, CalTax Vice President of Communications and Research (This column was published in the Ventura County Star, Napa Valley Register and Porterville Recorder.) In a recent syndicated column supporting property tax increases in California, Thomas Elias envisioned time travelers going back to view the 1978 property tax reform debate and not hearing much about commercial property taxes. Not so fast! Unless the time travelers were too busy disco dancing and buying bell-bottoms, they would notice a healthy debate…

Commentary: Thank Proposition 13 When You Get Your Property Tax Bill

November 27, 2017

Commentary

By David Kline, Vice President of Communications and Research This column was published October 30 in the San Francisco Chronicle. With property tax bills showing up in mailboxes throughout California, it’s the perfect time to thank voters for approving Proposition 13. Prior to the reform initiative’s passage in 1978, opening the property tax envelope was a frightening experience: How much did the tax go up this time? Now when you buy a home or business, you know what the tax…

CalTax Commentary: Voters Who OK’d Proposition 13 Knew What They Were Doing

September 8, 2017

Commentary

By Robert Gutierrez, Director of the California Tax Foundation This column originally appeared in the Bakersfield Californian It was disappointing to read Dolores Huerta’s description of California’s nondiscriminatory property tax law as a “loophole” – a label that misrepresents the facts and slights voters who overwhelmingly approved Proposition 13 to protect all property owners (Community Voices: “Fight to close state’s commercial property tax loophole,” August 18). When Californians went to the polls on June 6, 1978, they saw two competing property…