Scott Kaufman, legislative director and lobbyist for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, speaks to the Fresno Rotary Club Monday. Photo by Gabriel Dillard

The latest threats to Proposition 13 — and a measure meant to protect taxpayers — were the subject of a talk delivered by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association in Fresno Monday.

Scott Kaufman, legislative director and lobbyist with the taxpayer advocacy group, first reminded the Fresno Rotary club about what Prop. 13 did when tax policy activist Howard Jarvis successfully advocated for its passage in 1978.

Kaufman said Prop. 13’s protections — a limit on property taxes to 1% of assessed value and assessment increases of no more than 2% each year — kept people in their homes.

Prop. 13 also required a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to increase non-property taxes.

Kaufman outlined a few pieces of legislation — among the largest amount of legislation ever seen in Sacramento in more than a decade — he said would pose a threat to Prop. 13.

One is Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1, which would lower the voter threshold to 55% to approve bonds and special taxes for affordable housing and public infrastructure projects.

Another is the “Wealth Tax” proposal, or AB 259, which would allow the Legislature to define and impose a tax on all forms of personal property or “wealth.” This could also apply to intellectual property, Kaufman noted.

Also on Kaufman’s watchlist is Assembly Constitutional Amendment 11, which would do away entirely with the elected Board of Equalization (BOE). As the body has oversight over the property tax system, eliminating it would put that power in the hands of “another unelected, unaccountable and untouchable state government bureaucracy,” said Fresno County Assessor Paul Dictos in a commentary published by The Business Journal.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is in support of the California Taxpayer Protection Initiative, which has qualified for the 2024 ballot. For one, it would remove a loophole carved out by the courts that allows tax measures to pass with a majority vote if it was proposed by a private citizen, Kaufman said.

That allowed passage of the Measure P parks and arts measure approved by 52% of Fresno voters in 2018 — an outcome that the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association attempted to fight in court.

Another thing the California Taxpayer Protection Initiative would do is roll back a provision of Proposition 19, which was approved by voters in 2020. The part of Prop. 19 that was trumpeted by proponents was that it would allow senior or disabled homeowners to transfer the taxable value of their principal residence to a replacement property, making it more affordable to relocate.

Prop. 19 also established similar protocol for transfers between parents and children and grandparents and grandchildren, except it only applies when the children use a home as a primary residence.

This impacted many homeowners who purchased investment properties for the benefit of disabled children or grandchildren — only to learn that the assessed value would rise dramatically, Kaufman cited as an example.

“We think voters were kind of duped on that,” Kaufman said.