Since the passage of California Proposition 19, more and more families are receiving notices that the death of a parent has triggered reassessment of a family property and sharply increased their property tax bill. In an attempt to stem this, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has filed a ballot initiative with the Attorney General’s office to repeal California’s Death Tax.

In November of 2020, many voters were unaware that California Proposition 19 included a provision that affected inter-generational transfers of homes. Prior to California Proposition 19’s passage, a parent could transfer a home of any value plus up to $1 million of assessed value of other property to their children, without reassessment to market value. However, effective February 16, 2021, this is no longer the case.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is fighting to modify Prop 19 and restore the ability of parents to pass property to their children without any change to their tax bill. Commercial Loan Corporation is working with them to gather the signatures required to get it on the ballot. The new initiative is titled the Repeal the Death Tax Act. It would reverse the Proposition 19 changes to the rules affecting inter-generational transfers. To further protect California families, the measure includes an inflation adjustment for properties in addition to the primary residence. Up to $2.4 million of assessed value would be excluded from reassessment upon transfer, offering significant tax benefits to families that own small business properties or rental units for income. A primary residence of any value would be excluded from reassessment.

If you are interested in helping collect signatures and think that you can collect several, you can have a petition mailed to you along with complete instructions on how to do so. The deadline to collect the necessary signatures is April 29, 2022 so the time to act is now to repeal California’s Death Tax!

You can request a petition online here, or call Commercial Loan Corporation at 877-464-1066 for more details.