NEWs

Support the "Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Proposition 13"

By Jon Coupal

May 19, 2025

Starting in 1978 with the passage of Proposition 13, California voters have repeatedly tried to protect their homes and businesses from excessive taxation by imposing limits on property taxes and requiring two-thirds voter approval for other local taxes that disproportionately burden homeowners and businesses. Despite the clear intent of the voters, California courts have sided with the government and its special interest benefactors by creating loopholes that significantly weakened these protections.

Taxpayers are fighting back. The "Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Proposition 13" of 2026 will reverse these court-created loopholes and restore the tax relief first started with Proposition 13.

In 2017, the California Supreme Court’s decision in California Cannabis Coalition v. City of Upland created an ambiguity as to whether the state constitution applies to local citizens’ initiatives in the same way it applies to measures placed on the ballot by a government body. Since that time, all kinds of unconstitutional taxes – backed by tax-and-spend special interests – have been imposed on Californians costing billions of dollars that they would not have had to pay if the courts followed the letter and the spirit of the law.

Virtually all the appellate courts have used the Upland loophole to allow unconstitutional new taxes to take effect. Despite our efforts to have the Supreme Court resolve the issue definitively, it has not. This statewide initiative will not only restore taxpayer rights, but it will also provide clarity in the law upholding the two-thirds vote protection.

Since Upland, several local initiative tax increases have been declared “approved” despite falling short of Proposition 13’s two-thirds vote requirement for special taxes (taxes dedicated to a specific purpose). The Upland loophole has allowed special interest groups to write initiatives that raise taxes, direct the money to themselves, and pass them with just a simple majority. The same tax increase proposed by a City Council or County Board of Supervisors would require a two-thirds vote of the electorate to pass. The Save Prop. 13 Act will amend the state constitution to restore and reinforce the taxpayer protections that voters adopted when they passed Proposition 13.

>> Continue reading at HJTA.org <<

Two 2026 ballot measures proposed to make it harder to increase property, sales taxes

By Daniel Gligich

May 13, 2025

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is looking to amend the California Constitution to protect Proposition 13.

California voters may have an opportunity next year to protect Proposition 13, making it more difficult to raise property taxes.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association submitted two ballot measures to the California Attorney General’s Office, the first step to prepare a petition to circulate for signatures to place them on the ballot next year.

The backstory: California voters approved Proposition 13 in 1976, which capped the annual property tax at 1% of assessed value and only allows the assessed value to increase by a maximum of 2% per year.

Proposition 13 also made it so properties are only reassessed when ownership changes.
Last year the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association qualified the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act for the November ballot. That measure would have required tax increases to be approved by two-thirds of the Legislature and a majority of voters statewide. It also would have required special local taxes to be approved by two-thirds of voters locally.
But the California Supreme Court removed it from the ballot last year after Gov. Gavin Newsom filed a lawsuit against it, ruling that it would have been a revision of the California Constitution, which voters do not have the power to do.

The big picture: Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association President Jon Coupal submitted two measures to the state on Monday, both of which are titled the Save Proposition 13 Act of 2026.

>> Continue reading at https://sjvsun.com <<

Contact Us
Email us at info@hjta.org for general questions.
Representatives of the media
Please call Susan Shelley, Vice President, Communications, at 213-384-9656.

Northern California Office
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
1201 K Street, Suite 1030
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-444-9950

Southern California Office
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
621 South Westmoreland Avenue, Suite 200
Los Angeles, CA 90005
Phone: 213-384-9656

Contributions to Protect Proposition 13 are not tax-deductible.

Protect Proposition 13 does not solicit or accept any “earmarked” contributions. All expenditure decisions are made solely by the Principal Officer(s) of the Committee.

Paid for by Protect Prop. 13, a Project of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.