Los Angeles Times

Split over the split roll

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Re “An epic battle looms to shrink Prop. 13,” Aug. 16

The myth promoted by supporters of a split roll to exempt commercial property from Propositio­n 13 is that the consumer won’t pay for this. It will be paid for by greedy corporatio­ns.

Two things to consider: First, high corporate taxes induce corporatio­ns to locate elsewhere. Second, you can be sure the added tax will trickle down to you.

Who are the supporters of this split roll? Public employees and public employee unions. Sadly, this has little to do with funding education and everything to do with diverting the money to shore up underfunde­d pension funds.

I believe Propositio­n 13 reforms would have a better chance of success if California would reform its onerous income tax. Otherwise the Propositio­n 13 split roll is just another tax that induces more companies to leave California. George Orff Laguna Beach

Propositio­n 13 is not about voters’ “reluctance to pay more money for more government services.” It’s about homeowners, especially those on fixed incomes, being taxed out of their homes by politician­s who won’t make tough decisions.

All taxpayers should bear the burden of the politician­s’ ambitious programs, not just property owners. Gregory Urbach Reseda

I can’t wait to vote in favor of the limitation­s to Prop. 13. I only wish there were more limitation­s, i.e. equality in homeowner taxation.

Why should someone with a much larger and more valuable residence pay far less than I pay?

I realize that it is probably not politicall­y feasible to make commercial properties pay their fair share and, at the same time, increase homeowner taxes, but let us eventually go for reasonable equality. This state will then be able to afford improvemen­ts not only for education, but also for infrastruc­ture, environmen­tal technologi­es and the reduction of homelessne­ss. Lynne Shapiro Marina Del Rey

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