Proposition 13

Proposition 13 backer Howard Jarvis, 1978

Proposition 13 (officially named the People's Initiative to Limit Property Taxation) was an amendment of the Constitution of California enacted in 1978, by means of voter direct initiative. It was approved by California voters on June 6, 1978. 

 

Provisions of the legislation 

1. Limit the tax rate for properties:

Section 1. (a) The maximum amount of any ad valorem tax on real property shall not exceed one percent (1%) of the full cash value of such property. The one percent (1%) tax to be collected by the counties and apportioned according to law to the districts within the counties.

Proposition 13 declared property taxes were to be assessed their 1975 value and restricted annual increases of the tax to an inflation factor, not to exceed 2% per year. A reassessment of the property tax can only be made a) when the property ownership changes or b) there is construction done.

State Responsibility:

The state has been given the responsibility of distributing the property tax revenues to local agencies.

Voting Requirements:

In addition to decreasing property taxes and changing the role of the state, the initiative also contained language requiring a two-thirds (2/3) majority in both legislative houses for future increases of any state tax rates or amounts of revenue collected, including income tax rates and sales tax rates.
It also requires a two-thirds (2/3) vote majority in local elections for most local governments proposing to increase special taxes. Proposition 13 received an enormous amount of publicity, not only in California, but throughout the United States.

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

• Elkind, Ethan. "How Prop 13 Has Wrecked California: Time to roll back the 1978 tax measure." Legal Planet, January 12, 2017. http://legal-planet.org/2017/01/12/how-prop-13-has-wrecked-california/. 
   
• Reisenwitz, Cathy.  "A Surprising Suggestion for the Prop 13 Quagmire [GuestOpinion.]" Bay City Beacon, May 22, 2017. http://www.thebaycitybeacon.com/32740/289250/a/a-surprising-suggestion-for-the-prop-13-quagmire-guestopinion.
   
• Wikipedia. "California Proposition 13 (1978)." accessed 22 May, 2017, portions adapted to create initial version of this article.