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Prop 13 also applies to commercial real estate. The difference is that commercial properties require fewer public services, so costs are less. But the real diff
by wahern 7y ago
Prop 13 also applies to commercial real estate. The difference is that commercial properties require fewer public services, so costs are less. But the real difference is that there's usually much less NIMBY opposition to changes in commercial zoning than residential. Talk is cheap. What matters is who shows up to zoning board meetings. People tend to only show up when it effects their neighborhood, not so much when it effects the business district a mile down the road. Likewise for voting preferences.
Rescinding Prop 13 is unlikely to change anything because assessed values will be even more if developers can build bigger, multifamily dwellings in the neighborhood. So, yes, taxes would go up, but the local pressure to restrict zoning won't change as the incentives still line up the same way relatively.
- deepakhj 7y agoZoning meetings happen in the middle of the day. The only people that can go are old people!
- wahern 7y agoAlso rich people and neighborhood associations, who send their lawyers. And some poor and ethnic neighborhoods, who send their community activists.
- btilly 7y agoFigures that I saw estimate that local tax revenue from commercial property averages double that from residential. That's a pretty big incentive for a city to attract business and not attract residential. To take the example that you just latched on to, if rezoning the land makes it worth more, and therefore increases local taxes, this becomes an incentive for the city to balance its budget by rezoning. And some of that rezoned land will get dense residential living. Which will reduce traffic congestion. And make everyone's lives better.