They’re Coming After the Prop. 13 ‘Loophole’

The 2018 midterms look dire enough, but liberal activists already are gathering signatures to place a massive tax hike on the 2020 ballot.

Steven Greenhut October 18, 2018

The award for the most ridiculous opening paragraph in a news story, this week anyway, goes to CBS Sacramento for its coverage of a 2020 ballot measure that the secretary of state has recently approved for signature gathering: “A ballot measure that would close a loophole in property taxes for commercial businesses has qualified for the 2020 ballot.” Granted the article echoed the language used by the initiative’s supporters, but this is not about closing a loophole.

A loophole is an “ambiguity or inadequacy in the law or a set of rules,” per one dictionary definition. A tax loophole is basically some poorly drafted part of the tax code that enables taxpayers, often with the help of clever accountants, to legally reduce their tax liability. It’s a gap created by the inadequacy of lawmakers to draft language that grabs as much revenue as they had sought. Thank goodness for such loopholes — and for anything else that allows us to keep a few more dollars out of the grasp of those who prefer to spend it.

But the coming ballot initiative won’t attempt to correct some inadvertent tax language. It is, without doubt, a direct assault on one of the most clearly drafted and important laws in California history. It’s a bald-faced attempt to increase annual property taxes by $6 billion to $10 billion by undermining Proposition 13, which had long been considered the “third rail” of California politics. The big question is whether California voters can still be electrified by efforts to raise their taxes................ To Read More......