Forget taxing California’s billionaires or land, here’s one reform that can raise revenue

Olivia McHaney

Regarding “California wants to tax billionaires’ wealth. Here’s a better target: Their land” (Open Forum, SFChronicle.com, June 29): On the heels of a budget season where all I heard about was impending cuts, I’m thankful for these authors reminding Californians why we’re in this deficit mess in the first place: Proposition 13. 

But instead of focusing on individual homeowners as the problem, we should call out the large corporations who are underpaying taxes by billions every year by exploiting the loophole in Prop 13. 

By some estimates, our state has lost over $1 trillion in revenue because of Prop 13, with much of that because of commercial properties underpaying. But every time talk of reforming Prop 13 comes around, the anti-tax corporate lobby spends big and squashes any dissent of their sacred doctrine. 

I want to live in a California that prioritizes school funding, hospitals, public transit and other public services over corporate profits. We got close to reforming Prop. 13’s commercial loophole in 2020 with Prop 15. It’s time to fix Prop 13 and stop corporations from taking advantage of our state.