California Prop 19 Info
The pro-Proposition 19 members of the realtor community in all 58 counties throughout California are openly enthusiastic about Proposition 19, more or less due to an anticipated increase in property sales, accelerated broker commissions and increased property tax revenue.
Other political, partisan professionals believe in the new tax measure as well, such as Jim Brulte, California Republican Party former chair, who stated, “Proposition 19 protects tax savings and other benefits for vulnerable Californians including seniors, disabled homeowners, and wildfire victims. State and local Democrats should close unfair loopholes, and provide needed housing!” Alexandra Rooker, former chair of the California Democratic Party said, “Proposition 19 protects seniors and working families…”
Yet, some others do not see it that way. Why?
Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association wrote in a recent editorial: “Proposition 19 is an attempt by Sacramento politicians to raise property taxes by removing two voter-approved taxpayer protections from the State Constitution. This Prop 19 measure would, all too frequently, require reassessment to market value of property transferred from parents to children, and grandparents to grandchildren.”
Sara Kimberlin and Kayla Kitson at CalBudgetCenter.org, the non partisan California Budget & Policy Center that focuses on public policy news and analysis and the effect of these policies on middle class and working California families – are among the unconvinced. Ms. Kimberlin and Ms. Kitson tell us emphatically, in direct contrast to the statements from Mr. Brulte and Ms. Rooker: “Proposition 19 does little to help California’s housing affordability crisis! It has created a complicated property tax scheme, and reinforces racial inequities in California.”
As one of the most complicated, confusing measures on the November 2020 state ballot, Proposition 19 did genuinely seem to promise large improvements for seniors, homeowners with “severe disabilities” (which is almost impossible to define), the firefighter’s union, and other related parties. A sure sentimental winner when it comes to pulling the heart-strings of Californians.
Yet the closer you looked (which few bothered to do prior to the vote in November 2020) the more significant the changes to California’s residential property tax system you saw… Some helpful to regular middle class homeowners, folks with disabilities, and seniors… Some not so helpful. In the past, you would want to keep parents property taxes through parent to child transfer. As well as locking in a low property tax base while buying out siblings’ inherited property through Proposition 58 and a trust loan. Now it’s through Proposition 19… and there are limitations. and there are l
If you are inheriting CA property taxes from a parent, hoping to keep your parent’s home, that they left to you, as well as keeping their low Proposition 13 tax base – and your attorney is recommending a 3rd party loan to make all this happen, while buying out co-beneficiaries that are looking to sell off their inherited property shares – it would make a lot of sense to call an established trust lender to get advice and possibly a large irrevocable trust loan. You want to look into California lenders who will lend directly to an irrevocable trust or probate estate. You also want to make sure you understand all about inheriting CA property taxes from a parent, as well as how to transfer parents property taxes when Inheriting property taxes from a parent. You want to make sure, regardless, what it takes to keep parents property taxes on any property tax transfer, with a parent to child transfer… and parent to child exclusion from having to pay egregious, current property tax rates!
In actual fact, it looks like Proposition 19 will most likely expand a property tax loophole for older wealthier homeowners, while covering the cost by narrowing the parent to child exclusion, or exemption, for beneficiaries of inherited properties – but, and here’s the problem, also requiring state and local governments to create new systems capable of tracking how much new property tax revenue is coming in as a result, with a far more sophisticated, robust administrative infrastructure; significantly increasing overhead costs of existing administrative local governments.
They expect Prop 19 will bring in additional hundreds of millions (economists insist it’s nowhere near the billion-plus the California Legislature is anticipating). And yet this new admin system will call for a great deal more in administrative costs to manage, hire, create software and train staff for this new tax system than anyone is realistically projecting at this point… as well as re-allocating the supposed additional hundreds of millions due to Proposition 19, as a final step.
VoterGuide.sos.ca.gov tells us Proposition 19 is likely to result in increased state and local revenues – but not for every county. They tell us while most of the new Proposition 19 property tax revenue willhat-does-ca-proposition-19-accomplish be restricted to a new fund limited to supporting fire response, Prop 19 also limits taxes on seniors, “severely disabled” homeowners, and wild fire of forest fire victims. Tax analysts and assessors refer to these people as “eligible homeowners.”
An eligible homeowner can move within the same county and keep paying the same amount of property taxes if their new home is not more expensive than their existing home. Also, certain counties allow these rules to apply when an eligible homeowner moves to their county from another county. So, despite the positive benefits, implementing Prop 198 will not be as simple and as easy as it’s supporters claim it will be.