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Why should we care about single family property taxes set at the time of purchase? Proposition 13 substantially lowers the ability of municipal governments to

Why should we care about single family property taxes set at the time of purchase? Proposition 13 substantially lowers the ability of municipal governments to finance themselves. I recall the city of San Jose had to declare bankruptcy a while back (but I recalled incorrectly and they were just "on the verge") and the situation generally hobbles municipal government. Moreover, note being able to turn to property taxes, municipal governments have to turn to other sources of incomes, most of which undesirable incentives for the residents. Where I live now, Nevada County, building permits run $30K and higher. This decreases the supply of new houses substantially, worsening the housing crisis here and basically across California. General turnover may be 5-7 years but a given city doesn't get general turnover, they get people sitting on their houses 'cause they can. So basically, I think we should care about the perverse situation created by Prop 13 and indeed think about repealing it. California's horrible situation is at least getting people thinking. And corporations dodging taxes? kind of what-about-ism/thread-derail, huh? I'm against that too but come on.

dragonwriter 7y ago
> I recall the city of San Jose had to declare bankruptcy a while back When? I can find no references to this ever having occurred, though I can find early 2010s references to fears that it might occur in the (then-)near future, and some later articles contrasting San Jose which did not go bankrupt with Detroit which did.
- joe_the_user 7y ago
  Sorry, I guess I misremembered the "about to go bankrupt" part.
  - redis_mlc 7y ago
    You weren't far off. All California cities will go bankrupt because of 8% public pensions in a matter of years. (This is well-documented.) San Jose came close to already bankrupting itself on the new airport terminal, but an out-of-state airport construction consultant saved a billion dollars. (See the excellent Mercury News article.) One mayor did a half-hearted attempt to fight the 8%, but "died on that hill." Mountain View is one of the few cities in a good place, as 1/3 of their revenue comes from renting the business park they own across Central from downtown. Unless they bury Castro, which is estimated at $1 billion or so. I'm curious what happens to Santa Clara City. Only 10,000 residents, but they're on the hook for the $1.2 billion stadium they built for the Yorke family, who live in Oakland. lol. :)
    - dragonwriter 7y ago
      > All California cities will go bankrupt because of 8% public pensions in a matter of years. (This is well-documented.) It's really not. It's widely accepted that most local governments in CA will need to cut services or raise taxes due to pension costs, but not at all that “all cities” or even many will need to declare bankruptcy. Not sure what the 8% you are referring to is.
    - masonic 7y ago
      Only 10,000 residents You're off by a factor of twelve. And Levi's stadium was privately financed.

dragonwriter 7y ago

> I recall the city of San Jose had to declare bankruptcy a while back When? I can find no references to this ever having occurred, though I can find early 2010s references to fears that it might occur in the (then-)near future, and some later articles contrasting San Jose which did not go bankrupt with Detroit which did.

joe_the_user 7y ago
Sorry, I guess I misremembered the "about to go bankrupt" part.
- redis_mlc 7y ago
  You weren't far off. All California cities will go bankrupt because of 8% public pensions in a matter of years. (This is well-documented.) San Jose came close to already bankrupting itself on the new airport terminal, but an out-of-state airport construction consultant saved a billion dollars. (See the excellent Mercury News article.) One mayor did a half-hearted attempt to fight the 8%, but "died on that hill." Mountain View is one of the few cities in a good place, as 1/3 of their revenue comes from renting the business park they own across Central from downtown. Unless they bury Castro, which is estimated at $1 billion or so. I'm curious what happens to Santa Clara City. Only 10,000 residents, but they're on the hook for the $1.2 billion stadium they built for the Yorke family, who live in Oakland. lol. :)
  - dragonwriter 7y ago
    > All California cities will go bankrupt because of 8% public pensions in a matter of years. (This is well-documented.) It's really not. It's widely accepted that most local governments in CA will need to cut services or raise taxes due to pension costs, but not at all that “all cities” or even many will need to declare bankruptcy. Not sure what the 8% you are referring to is.
  - masonic 7y ago
    Only 10,000 residents You're off by a factor of twelve. And Levi's stadium was privately financed.