MEASURE EE FAILURE COULD BE A TURNING OF TAX TIDE
One of the questions we’re asked most often is, “How can we educate more people about the importance of protecting Proposition 13? My neighbors don’t even know what it is!”
To help answer this question, HJTA has a new Neighborhood Handout that you can print and give to friends, family members and neighbors to tell them about Prop. 13 and why the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association works so hard to protect it. The handout explains in plain language that Proposition 13 has saved the homes of millions of people by capping annual increases in property taxes.
Many people can’t even imagine what their property taxes would be today if we didn’t have Proposition 13, so we made sure the Neighborhood Handout includes the link to our carnival-style “Guessing Game” tax calculator, at http://GuessingGame.org. Invite your neighbors to see it on their phones or computers. All they have to do is enter the current market value of their home and click the button, and they’ll see the shocking property tax bill they’d be paying today if Proposition 13 had never been passed.
The Neighborhood Handout highlights that HJTA also fights in the courts to stop illegal fees, charges and taxes and stands up against proposed laws and ballot measures that threaten to raise taxes on California families, who already pay the highest state taxes in the country.
The handout includes information about some of the benefits of becoming a Member of HJTA while helping to strengthen the voice of taxpayers in California. Your neighbors can use the convenient tear-off membership application to join right away.
You can find the Neighborhood Handout by clicking here or you can always return to our homepage and on our and click “Tell a Friend.” You can also request copies by calling our offices at 213-384-9656 or 916-444-9950, or by e-mailing your request to info@hjta.org.
Another question that has been frequently asked lately is, “What’s the plan for the campaign against the split-roll initiative that attacks Proposition 13? Will HJTA have TV and radio commercials to educate voters?”
This question relates to an initiative that has qualified for the November 2020 statewide ballot. Currently titled the “California Schools and Communities Funding Act,” the initiative would amend the California Constitution to change Proposition 13, stripping its protections from business properties. County assessors would be required to reassess commercial and industrial properties to market value, not just once but every few years.
This would be a destructive tax increase on every business in California at the same time. It would chop Proposition 13 in half, “splitting” the property tax roll to separate business and residential property. Of course, we believe the activists who want to raise taxes won’t stop there. Residential property owners will be the next target.
In June, your Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association helped to defeat a property tax increase in Los Angeles, Measure EE, by running a very effective campaign alongside a separate campaign that was supported by local business groups. To do that again in a far more expensive statewide campaign, we’ll need your help.
California law has specific rules for raising and spending money on a ballot measure campaign. Our special campaign committee, which is named “Protect Prop. 13,” was set up for that purpose. Your donations to that committee will help pay for radio and TV ads, campaign mail, yard signs, bumper stickers and all the other elements of a successful grassroots campaign, much like the one that passed Proposition 13 in 1978.
To make a donation to the Protect Prop. 13 committee, click here or visit our Protect Proposition 13 page. That’s where you can download our flyer, What Is ‘Split Roll,’ and Why Should I Be Terrified of It? You may want to print it and share it with your neighbors. We also invite you to sign up if you’d like to volunteer on the campaign, and please reserve a free “Protect Prop. 13” yard sign. We’ll let you know when they’re available.
When it comes to fighting for taxpayers in California, our work is never done, and we never stop doing it. But we couldn’t do it without you. Thank you!