Our present property tax system is broken. In the last 10 years our property taxes have doubled or tripled, in many cases. We are paying "area" taxes, not "valuation" taxes.
If people build an expensive home within a mile of their land, or even do some remodeling, our valuation goes up and our taxes skyrocket. This is wrong and especially cruel to older residents who want to keep living on their property, and existing on a small retirement pension, or struggling low-wage earners.
Home foreclosures are off the charts. People are losing their homes by the hundreds. Many small farmers are being forced off their land because they can no longer make a profit from their crops and pay the constant huge increases in property taxes, forcing them to sell their land to building contractors and taking land out of production forever. We know when our farmland, what happens to our food source?
Small business owners are overloaded with many unneeded regulations and paperwork, plus outrageous tax burdens, forcing many small businesses to close their doors and move out of state. We need a completely new property tax system starting with a freeze at the 2005 or 2006 level, and raises set at half of this country's yearly inflation rate. All raises more than 2 percent must come only by a statewide referendum, where all people have a chance to vote for against.
We are proud of this democracy, and we must keep it the way our constitution meant it to be. "Government of the people, by the people, for the people." The California legislators, businessmen and governor all thought their Proposition 13 -- or 2 percent property tax reform bill -- would never work in a state of more than 12 million people. The people proved them wrong with a tax freeze by referendum. Now their legislators know how much money they have to work with yearly, and cut out most unnecessary fat bills to balance their budget. This is truly the best reform bill our legislature could enact for the people, and make this prosperous state the envy of the Midwest.
