There is a statewide campaign afoot that wants to eliminate Proposition 13 gradually by first trying to take away its protections for the timing of property tax reassessments of commercial properties. The Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica is being used as a high profile symbol of why Proposition 13 should be revoked for commercial properties.  [...]

Stuart Lieberman, a real estate attorney in New Jersey, once said the following about wording in a deed that allowed construction on open space designated land: “That’s not a loophole; it’s the Lincoln Tunnel.” Lieberman made what appeared to be a loophole in a deed understandable through a concrete example.  In the same way, the [...]

During the court-ordered “drought” in California from 2007 to 2010, some signs along highways in the Central Valley read: “Food grows where water flows” “Congress created dust bowl” “No water=no barley=no beer” “People are more important than fish”  Possibly by 2020, after possible rolling power blackouts and unexplainable regional power grid failures, the next signs [...]

Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times an article, “Lessons from a Comeback.” However, a comeback for state government should not be confused with an economic or jobs recovery. A number of liberal, conservative and moderate writers responded to Krugman that there has been no California comeback. Victor Davis Hanson wrote, “Krugman’s California Dreamin’.” Walter Russell Mead wrote, [...]

The attacks on Proposition 13 never seem to end. The 1978 tax-cut initiative’s enemies, such as former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, conjure up a misleading image of large corporate owners of commercial real estate dodging taxes by selling commercial properties through “stock transfers.” They call for a “split roll” that would increase taxes on commercial property, [...]

To meet new public pension financing rules, six counties in California would have to dedicate all of their existing property taxes to pay for pensions or pursue municipal bankruptcy through the courts.  That is the conclusion of an independent pension analyst of the new pension rules established last year by Moody’s municipal credit rating agency. [...]

The Democratic Party supermajority in the state legislature is calling for reform of Proposition 13.  The legislature should leave Proposition 13 alone.  Instead it should repeal or override regional growth management and smart growth laws.  Here’s why: it is growth management laws that cause the excessive housing booms and busts that throw state and school [...]

Willie Brown just reminded us why in 1990 voters passed term limits largely to move him out of his seat as California Assembly-Speaker-for-Life. Brown wrote that Prop. 13 should be reformed by “cleverly” by making “a racehorse look like a donkey.” But Brown must take California homeowners and small business persons to be dumb mules.  Everyone knows [...]

Editor’s Note: This article is from a longer piece on California’s economic growth titled  “Supermajority Can’t Legislate Away Reality” published in Cal Watchdog. Read the entire article here. The only political response to slow growth has been for the Party of Government to protect state and local governments, not businesses.  Now the Democratic supermajority in [...]

Crossposted on CalWatchdog When hosting TV game show “Family Feud,” the late host Richard Dawson made famous his line: “Survey says!” There’s a new study out on how millionaires react to tax increases. What does the survey say? “Millionaire Migration in California: The Impact of Top Tax Rates” is by Charles Varner and Cristobal Young, both of [...]