Questions Friedman and Portantino

In spite of a budget surplus, Governor Gavin Newsom stated for the record, “Proposition 13 is on the table” (read: chopping block).

Emboldened by their super-majority, Democratic lawmakers produced a laundry list of assembly and senate constitutional amendments that would, all or in part, lower the threshold for parcel taxes from a two-thirds majority to 55%.

On Aug. 19, you, Laura Friedman, took a swing at Proposition 13 when you voted for Assembly Constitutional Amendment (ACA) 1. Fortunately, the measure died on a 44-20 vote, thanks to 15 legislators who abstained from voting rather than risk the wrath of their constituents.

Why did you vote for another tax on hard-pressed property owners? Was it really for affordable housing in an over-crowded state that is predicted to have 65 million people by the year 2050? [Was it to] give public employees bigger paychecks and pensions? Pursue a progressive social agenda?

Commercial property owners face another threat with the proposed “split roll” tax – a $12 billion heist that Attorney General Xavier Becerra misrepresents as the California Schools and Communities Funding Act of 2020. This brazen act would base commercial property taxes on the assessed value rather than the purchase price – the catalyst for a tax revolt in 1978. Are residential properties your next targets?

In its 2019 Legislative Report Card, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association gave you and your colleague, Anthony Portantino, an F. You flunked.

What will you do for your constituents to improve your grade in 2020?

Les Hammer

Pasadena