4 ms·

It sounds like most of the people here want prop 13 repealed but from your suggestion that would just make every pay the high tax so the "people often don't bec

It sounds like most of the people here want prop 13 repealed but from your suggestion that would just make every pay the high tax so the "people often don't because the taxes would increase to a point where it wouldn't be worth it." would be true for everyone always right?

ericd 7y ago
At least in SV, the older people are much, much more active in local politics, probably because they're not busy with a job/kids. When I was on a sabbatical/funemployed, I used to go to city council meetings pretty frequently, especially for meetings discussing one of these anti-development laws that are currently on the books, and it would be like 3-6 of us on the pro-development side, typically skewing on the younger side (though there were some exceptional older homeowners who would argue for our side), and then 50+ retirees on the anti-development side. In the example I'm thinking of, it was a meeting about a law that was due to expire that limited new development to 5 stories, and effectively limited average height to 3-4 stories due to floor area ratios, and simultaneously put strict limits on the number of housing units you could build per acre. Mind you, this expiration would affect just the dense downtown core around the train station, not the vast majority of the city, which is zoned single family. They still hated the idea, it'd cause too much traffic. One lady gave an impassioned speech about how the drive to their second home in Tahoe, which used to take 4 hours now took 6-8 on Friday due to traffic. This came right after a speech from someone who was about to lose their primary residence due to rent spiking. I don't know how she was able bring herself to follow that, but she certainly tried.
ladberg 7y ago
The basic idea is that people are being disproportionally taxed, usually in favor of the rich (i.e. people who have owned property in high CoL places for a long time). By raising the taxes on these people to "fair" levels, a bunch of good things happen. First, a lot of property is opened up to the market because people are now willing to sell it, which should lower housing/land prices in general and enable more development. Second, the state gets a lot more tax money to use for education and whatever else.

ericd 7y ago

At least in SV, the older people are much, much more active in local politics, probably because they're not busy with a job/kids. When I was on a sabbatical/funemployed, I used to go to city council meetings pretty frequently, especially for meetings discussing one of these anti-development laws that are currently on the books, and it would be like 3-6 of us on the pro-development side, typically skewing on the younger side (though there were some exceptional older homeowners who would argue for our side), and then 50+ retirees on the anti-development side. In the example I'm thinking of, it was a meeting about a law that was due to expire that limited new development to 5 stories, and effectively limited average height to 3-4 stories due to floor area ratios, and simultaneously put strict limits on the number of housing units you could build per acre. Mind you, this expiration would affect just the dense downtown core around the train station, not the vast majority of the city, which is zoned single family. They still hated the idea, it'd cause too much traffic. One lady gave an impassioned speech about how the drive to their second home in Tahoe, which used to take 4 hours now took 6-8 on Friday due to traffic. This came right after a speech from someone who was about to lose their primary residence due to rent spiking. I don't know how she was able bring herself to follow that, but she certainly tried.

ladberg 7y ago

The basic idea is that people are being disproportionally taxed, usually in favor of the rich (i.e. people who have owned property in high CoL places for a long time). By raising the taxes on these people to "fair" levels, a bunch of good things happen. First, a lot of property is opened up to the market because people are now willing to sell it, which should lower housing/land prices in general and enable more development. Second, the state gets a lot more tax money to use for education and whatever else.