Catch-22, a novel by Joseph Heller, explored the absurdity imposed by governmental overregulation and war. Today, the term catch-22 has come to define any paradoxical situation in which the solution is impossible because of the rules inherent to the problem. For example, this might mean being unable to find your glasses because you lost your glasses and cannot see! This year’s Proposition 13 is a blind one with a very misleading title. For people with the desire to ever live in a home and raise children anywhere with good schools in the state of California, a more fitting name for this bill is “Proposition Catch-22.”
Not only does this proposition recycle the same name as the original 1978 Proposition 13– which was passed by about two-thirds of Californian voters in 1978 and limited property taxes to 1% of the purchase price and concurrently limited annual increases to no greater than 2% of a property owner’s current tax payment- but the 2020 initiative actually increases property taxes! It does exactly the opposite of what the original 1978 Proposition 13 stood for! This new bill is tricky the way it is named and tricky the way it works, but do not let these things fool you.
This is how it works: the new 2020 Proposition 13 essentially imposes $15 billion in bonds on residential property owners. With interest owed, this scheme will actually cost residential property owners and in turn those who rent residential property roughly $26 billion (see chart below) over 35 years.
California suffers from one of the highest costs of living anywhere in the nation. Rents are skyrocketing. The more property owners are taxed, the more rents must be increased. Recently passed AB 1482 established a rental increase cap at 5% a year plus inflation for a total amount up to 10% per year. Higher taxes equals higher cost of living equals higher inflation equals higher rents. The new 2020 Proposition 13 means rents can and will be raised to pay for this added expense. Homeowners who live in their homes but are not fortunate enough to also own rental properties will absorb this entire burden themselves.
Given California’s astronomical cost of living, younger families who might have children are typically unable to move to the more desirable coastal areas and city neighborhoods with better schools. Younger people who already live in these areas often cannot afford to have children, assuming they can even afford to move out of their parents’ houses. The simple ability to raise kids in areas like Coastal Orange County or Los Angeles with good school districts is seen as a huge sign of success! Having a dog is a bonus. (Cats don’t count, sorry.) Since there are not enough kids growing up in areas like Coastal Orange County, these high-ranking school districts are not getting funding from the state because the state funding is allocated per student. Since there aren’t enough students, local Orange County school districts are forced to close some of the highest-ranking schools in the nation. And the state’s answer is to make it more expensive to live here by taxing us even more?? The situation is a catch-22 for young families who want to rent or own a home and raise kids anywhere in California with high-quality schools.
It doesn’t work for enough young families. Why not use a portion of the $21 billion surplus in the state’s general fund to pay for this? Borrowing the $15 billion nearly doubles the cost over time!
Placing this bond measure in the cycle of proposition names to coincide with the number of the original 1978 Proposition 13 is trickery at best. The new 2020 Proposition 13 is also convoluted to prefer union labor contract bidders over the free market thereby wasting taxpayer dollars. This cute little provision is hidden in the bill much like the link to cats doing stupid things is hidden in one of the above paragraphs. Californians have voted for billions of dollars in school funding and renovations over the past decade. We’re reasonable people, but don’t try tricking us by sneaking things into the bill that are not included in the Official California Voter Information Guide and by assigning it the sacred proposition number 13, which we have come to know and love.