Vote no on Prop. 15, a misleading property tax initiative
Proposition 15, one of 12 statewide measures on the Nov. 3 ballot, deserves your attention. Its objective is simple — it’s the most serious attempt to do away with Proposition 13, the landmark property tax protection measure overwhelmingly passed by California voters in 1978.
Voters will see Prop. 15 on their ballots, the largest property tax increase in California history, although it’s being positioned as something much different by its proponents. As pastor of Third Baptist Church of San Francisco and president of the San Francisco NAACP Branch, I can tell you Prop. 15 is bad for the Bay Area and for all Californians.
Proponents misleadingly call this tax measure the “Schools and Communities First” initiative, but if you read the measure, you’ll quickly notice that schools are funded last — after reimbursing a new bureaucracy to the tune of $1.3 billion, then local governments and then schools. Worse still, there’s no guarantee these tax dollars will find their way into the classroom.
Californians are suffering. Businesses remain closed, workers aren’t working, and Black- and Latino- owned businesses have been impacted especially hard. A new California Budget & Policy Center study revealed overall unemployment reached 20% this summer. For the leisure and hospitality industry alone, nearly a million jobs were lost between February and April, and 657,000 jobs have not returned.
Yet, Prop. 15 supporters charge ahead, fictitiously trying to position this measure as a tax decrease and that only the wealthiest of the wealthy will pay the $11.5 billion tax.
They either fail to understand or choose to ignore that the overwhelming majority of small-business owners rent the property where they conduct business. These businesses have triple net leases, which makes them responsible for property taxes, maintenance and insurance costs.
Look at the facts: According to the most recent Survey of Business Owners by the Census Bureau, 5% of all businesses in the state are owned by African Americans. The vast majority of these businesses start small and stay small. Even before Prop. 15, Black- owned small businesses were twice as likely to fail because they had insufficient cash flow or sales to cover their costs than U. S. businesses as a whole.
According to a recent study by the California State Conference of the NAACP, increasing taxes for business properties, as Proposition 15 proposes, will disproportionately hurt minority- owned businesses and speed up the gentrification in the Bay Area and Southern California communities. Simply put, Prop. 15 will hurt minorityowned businesses and communities the most, making systemic racism and inequality even worse.
As longtime Black- owned businesses struggle with dramatically higher taxes and rent, many that are barely eking out a profit will be forced to close their doors — to be replaced by new businesses able to afford higher rents and charge correspondingly higher prices. I am concerned that many of our well- established communities will see an exodus of longtime residents because Prop. 15’s higher taxes will force stores to increase prices, exacerbating the struggles that hardworking families with stretched budgets already face.
I hear concerns about the future from my parishioners every day. I know their struggles and I pray with them to hopefully provide comfort and perspective. It is tempting to believe that an $11.5 billion tax hike will somehow help stimulate local economies and provide much-needed funds to local governments and schools. But that’s wishful thinking.
Prop. 15 will increase the cost of living, accelerate gentrification and hit California’s most vulnerable the hardest.
I urge you to vote no on Prop. 15 this November.
According to a recent study by the California State Conference of the NAACP, increasing taxes for business properties, as Proposition 15 proposes, will disproportionately hurt minority-owned businesses and speed up the gentrification in the Bay Area and Southern California communities.