Repeal Proposition 19’s Death Tax

By Alan Pentico, Executive Director, Southern California Rental Housing Association
An initiative passed narrowly by voters in 2020 to protect wildfire victims and seniors has opened the door to massive tax increases that threaten tenants and the roof over their heads. Proposition 19 removed important taxpayer protections from the State Constitution that for 35 years guaranteed parents or grandparents could transfer property to their kids without any change to the property tax bill. The removal of these protections has brought back the death tax to California.
Now, when property is passed from parent to child, it is reassessed to current market value, triggering a huge increase in annual property taxes. Too often, renters find themselves collateral damage to this untimely tax increase.