Public Employee Unions want to change Prop. 13 so busness property tax goes up & up more every year. (Oakland: moving, bill)

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by SportyandMisty

I seem to recall a child, in response to his mother saying "we don't have money for that," saying with child-like wonder, "just go to the store and buy some money."

That kid will one day be a great problem solver.

you mean a great politician

[davidt1]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

So what's your solution? You'd be paying a lot more in property taxes if Prop 13 were overturned.

Look at what homeowners in Illinois have to deal with:
Home is where the hurt is: How property taxes are crushing Illinois' middle class: https://www.illinoispolicy.org/story...-middle-class/

Across the country, government worker salary and pension cost are hurting many Americans financially. From the article above:

When it comes to property taxes, four main factors drive the pinch felt in Illinois pocketbooks: government-worker pensions, government-worker health care, prevailing-wage requirements and workers’ compensation costs.

Why?

Take government-worker pension benefits, for example, which are mandated at the state level, regardless of whether local governments can afford them.

Bart expects police pensions to cost the village over $1 million annually within the next two years. The village has 25 police employees and a general fund budget of just over $9 million.

Bart uses his second-lowest paid police officer to illustrate the high personnel costs village taxpayers shoulder. The officer has been with the village for more than 10 years, and the village pays his $85,000 salary and $15,000 in benefits annually. On top of that, taxpayers contribute $25,000 to his pension each year, Bart said.

That’s not all.

Prevailing-wage laws levy another massive blow to local governments’ bottom lines. These laws can mandate six-figure salaries plus benefits for the lucky private-sector employees who work on government projects. Bart estimates this easily adds 20 percent to project costs above what would be offered in a competitive bidding process.

Finally, while Bart said effective departmental leadership has prevented workers’ compensation costs from getting out of hand in his community, this is not always the case.

Take Williamson County, for example, which has spent $2.7 million on workers’ compensation claims over the last three fiscal years, nearly four times as much as the previous three-year period.

“… [S]ome of this is frivolous,” said Chief Deputy Bob McCurdy, according to The Southern. “We need to make an example of somebody.”

County Board Chairman Jim Marlo echoed McCurdy’s concerns, describing the costs as “eating away” at the county budget.

“It is a system that[’s] easily manipulated in this state and until you get legislative action to change the way claims are handled, the way insurance handles and the way courts handle it, we are going to be faced with this problem,” Marlo said.

Despite clear evidence of public employee unions' financial rape on US citizens, the public employee union shills here will continue making excuses and outright lie.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by davidt1

Despite clear evidence of public employee unions' financial rape on US citizens, the public employee union shills here will continue making excuses and outright lie.

I Know an ex fireman in Riverside County that got a disability pension because he "hurt" his back on a fire call. Yep stayed home for a few months and then started a business of his own and still gets the disability and ... no real back problems.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by expatCA

I Know an ex fireman in Riverside County that got a disability pension because he "hurt" his back on a fire call. Yep stayed home for a few months and then started a business of his own and still gets the disability and ... no real back problems.

You don't have to be confined to your bed for the rest of your life in order to retire on disability, the criteria is whether or not he can do the duties required in his job as a firefighter. Public agencies do not want to reassign a firefighter to desk duty for the next 30 years, that's more expensive than retiring them.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

You don't have to be confined to your bed for the rest of your life in order to retire on disability, the criteria is whether or not he can do the duties required in his job as a firefighter. Public agencies do not want to reassign a firefighter to desk duty for the next 30 years, that's more expensive than retiring them.

His back was not that bad.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by expatCA

His back was not that bad.

Apparently his physician and a qualified medical examiner agreed that it was "that bad" because that is what's required.

[mgforshort]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

So what's your solution? You'd be paying a lot more in property taxes if Prop 13 were overturned.

Look at what homeowners in Illinois have to deal with:
Home is where the hurt is: How property taxes are crushing Illinois' middle class: https://www.illinoispolicy.org/story...-middle-class/

The point of my post was that with the protection provided by prop 13 we'll be able to make it for at least ten more years here in Paradise, CA.
If the prop 13 is eliminated, as many here advocate, our taxes could go up to 8-10 K per year, like some other states are now. In that case we would just sell our home with a loss and get the hell out of this country. We have the advantage of speaking other languages and family abroad, but the average American retiree would suffer tremendously if property taxes would rise, as many younger posters here want to see.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by mgforshort

The point of my post was that with the protection provided by prop 13 we'll be able to make it for at least ten more years here in Paradise, CA.

I thought you suggested a different plan to calculate property taxes.

Originally Posted by mgforshort

I firmly believe property tax on a residence should not be based on the price of the property, but on the size of the property and the number of people living there.

For example:
A single woman living in a 900 sq.ft, million-dollar condo in San Francisco needs much less services than a family of eight living in a 4-bedroom, 4,000 sq.ft house in Bakersfield, which home can be purchased for a third of the price.

[mgforshort]

I have no complaint paying our current tax of $ 2,600-2,800 on a 1700 sq.foot, 60 year-old house, occupied by two people and a dog.
But I resent it that the tax is going up every year by 3-4 % while we don't receive 4% more services.

Heck, we don't receive anything more considering our income from social security never goes up, but it goes down, due to inflation and Medicare, health insurance and home insurance all rising much faster than the level of inflation.
The problem with prop 13 is that there is no protection from the added costs slapped on top of the tax, all coming from various bond measures to build athletic fields and low income housing, whatever the liberal, generous (with other people's money) dreamers can come up with.
We pay $ 172 for things not related to property taxation, and it goes up and up, as it is the most convenient way to cover things which might benefit a few, but paid by the home owners.

[Csonka]

If R.E. taxes go up, prices will go down, and then everyone will be whining about that