Defeat effort to weaken Prop. 13

Op-ed

Story By Marc Steinorth | The Press Enterprise

It was not that long ago when California was in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression. Our state lost 1.4 million jobs, more than one in 10 residents statewide were without a job, and, here in Riverside, our unemployment rate jumped to more than 14 percent. Businesses closed left and right. The state was forced to slash the budget, cutting programs and services as revenues plummeted. California was struggling.

But today, businesses are hiring again. The budget has rebounded. Many services and program funding have been fully restored and, in many cases, increased. This year’s budget also set aside billions in the state’s rainy day fund, paid down long-term debt and still has $6 billion in reserves.

I am appalled that despite California’s revenue surplus, more than $140 billion in new and higher taxes are being proposed by legislators and special interest groups this legislative session. One of the most egregious proposals, Senate Constitutional Amendment 5, will undo decades of taxpayer protection for California’s businesses. For nearly four decades, Proposition 13 has protected homeowners and businesses by maintaining stable and predictable property taxes. This certainty allows businesses to plan for the future and more accurately predict our ability to hire more employees and keep the economy strong.

SCA5’s weakening of Prop. 13 dramatically increases taxes by changing how property tax is assessed on commercial property. This proposal, also known as the split-roll tax, would result in a $9 billion tax on California businesses. Make no mistake: This will hurt small and minority-owned businesses the most.

Special interest groups have had several chances to close the recognized loopholes that undermine the intent of Prop. 13 without raising taxes. Last year, they exerted their considerable power to defeat a bill to close those loopholes. This year, state Sen. Pat Bates, R-Laguna Niguel, authored legislation, Senate Bill 259, which would fix Prop. 13 without raising taxes. But the special interests are nowhere to be found, because they don’t want to fix Prop. 13 – they want to gut it in order to generate billions in higher taxes when the state already has a multi-billion dollar surplus.

A split-roll tax will cost the state 400,000 jobs. Both Riverside and San Bernardino counties were hit especially hard by the recession. Our unemployment rate was nearly five percent higher than the state average. We lost many small businesses and many others are still struggling to get back to where they were before the recession. SCA5 will be a major step backward in our recovery.

Businesses and employees need stability. SCA5 will undo decades of good policy that has helped keep businesses in California and hardworking residents employed. This tax isn’t needed to fund vital services, nor is a tax actually needed to close loopholes. SCA5 is a tax to fill already full coffers at the expense of jobs in our small business community. It’s bad policy and should be defeated.

Read the original post at the The Press Enterprise

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Story By Marc Steinorth | The Press Enterprise
Assemblyman Marc Steinorth Represents the 40th Assembly District

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