Stepping up his presence in California ahead of the March 3 presidential primary, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg threw his weight behind a proposed ballot measure to remove tax protections on commercial property currently enjoyed under voter-approved Proposition 13, the landmark anti-tax.
Under Prop. 13, county assessors treat all property — commercial and residential — the same when it comes to taxation. That would change under the proposed initiative, dubbed “Schools & Communities First” by its supporters.
Homeowners and some small businesses would not be affected by the measure, which includes a tax of 1% based on the purchase price and annual increases of up to 2%.
Supporters of the ballot measure, including powerful public employee unions such as the Service Employees International Union and the California Teachers Association, say they are in the final stages of collecting the signatures needed to place the measure before voters in November
The media mogul, who is self-funding his entire presidential campaign and spending lavishly in Super Tuesday states, including California, is the fifth Democratic presidential candidate to back the measure, joining Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg. Other candidates, including Kamala Harris and Julian Castro also endorsed it before they dropped out of the race.…(more)
I wonder if anyone has explained to the presidential candidates the divide and conquer plan to turn single family homes into commercial properties? If not, someone should. The split roll will be meaningless when they remove single family zoning. Rents will go up to cover the expenses.