Property Tax on Non-Profits? Or No Property Taxes at All?
Discussion about changing California’s property tax system
is never far from the surface when talking taxes in this state. But, in other
parts of the country there are some moves to change the traditional property
tax system that may be surprising even to California’s would-be property tax
reformers. In Boston, Massachusetts the city is asking for a set amount of
volunteer property taxes from non-profit landholders such as universities and
hospitals. And, in North Dakota, initiative signatures have been filed to
abolish the property tax all together.
Boston is rich in non-profit organizations that, along with
federal and state government facilities, occupy 52-percent of the land in the
city. To deal with its budget shortfall,
the city sent a letter to 40 top non-profit organizations asking them to commit
to paying property taxes for the next five years equivalent to 25-percent of
what they would owe if their property were not tax exempt.
According
to the Boston Globe, the 25-percent figure was arrived at because that is
roughly the portion of the city budget that pays for basic city services like
public safety, emergency medical treatment and snow removal.
California Forward’s Framework for Restructuring
California may be struggling with a budget crisis and a sluggish economy – but we can fix it. Our state can have a prosperous and environmentally sustainable economy that provides equal opportunities for all. To get there, governments at the state and local levels must work together to provide cost-effective services and better results, something that doesn’t happen today as much as it should.
In the latest draft of the Framework for Restructuring, CA Fwd outlines a course of action to restructure the relationship between state and local governments to produce better results for both taxpayers and people who rely on government services. These proposals are built around a simple idea: California’s three most significant areas of state general fund spending – education, health and human services, and public safety – are fundamentally interrelated.
The Framework introduces five new priorities for the state: Better education leads to better jobs, which leads to a healthier population, less poverty, less crime, and ultimately less pressure on government budgets. Structural and fiscal reforms should focus on these Big Five Outcomes, not just to balance the budget or close a shortfall – but to realign public programs at all levels to deliver results.
Damned Lies, Statistics, and LA Times’ Headlines
In
the history of misleading newspaper headlines, it’s not exactly "Dewey Defeats Truman", but this weekend the Los Angeles Times put itself on the
medal stand. "Voters want tax plan to go on the ballot", blares the Times’ front page headline, supposedly describing the
results of the newspaper’s poll, co-sponsored by USC’s Dornsife College. The
headline of the story’s follow-through page proclaims, "State voters favor
taxes." Catching only these declarations at your Starbuck’s newsstand, or
casually flipping through the paper looking for news on Andrew Bynum’s knee
troubles, you may conclude that those radical partisans (usually those who hew
right-of-center) in Sacramento are preventing a moderate path through the
state’s fiscal disaster.
But
is this what the survey results actually shows?
The
headlines seem to rely on responses to a trio of survey questions. The first –
"To close the remaining $14 billion of the budget deficit, which approach do
you favor?" – reveals that while 33% of respondents supported "cutting spending"
only, a full 53% back a "combination of both" cuts and tax increases. A paltry 9% of respondents supported a "taxes
only" plan to balance the budget. The first response has indeed diminished by
11 percentage points from the answers Californians gave last November.
CA Legislators Hustle More Tax Bills
Cross-posted at CalWatchdog.
With another poll out today saying that voters want to vote on Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax extension increases, the media are mum about the many other tax bills slithering through the Legislature which would greatly increase every taxpayer’s total tax bill.
Highlights of the new Times/USC Dornsife poll include:
- * 70 percent of respondents said they supported a cap on pensions for current and future public employees.
- * 68 percent approved of raising the amount of money government workers should be required to contribute to their retirement. Increasing the age at which government employees may collect pensions was favored by 52 percent.
- * Among Democratic respondents, 71 percent supported increasing retirement contributions for future hires.
- * 66 percent backed a pension cap for both current and future workers.
- * However, fewer than half of the Democrats surveyed favored cutting benefits and raising the retirement age for current employees.
- * 60 percent of those surveyed, including majorities of both Democrats and Republicans, said they backed such an election.
- * 71 percent want reforms included on the ballot.