Chamber Event Focuses on Prop 13 Successor
Alameda County Assessor Phong La
Proposition 19, which passed in 2020, may considerably affect property taxes for you and your children. You can find out how from Alameda County Assessor Phong La himself in a Zoom event at 12 noon today.
His talk is presented by the Castro Valley/Eden Area Chamber of Commerce as part of its “Lunch & Learn” discussion series. You can sign up at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87451226540
for the free event.
“Proposition 19 is the biggest change in property taxes in 40 years,” La said. “It can result in massive rises in property tax bills to your children if you don’t do it right.”
Proposition 19 changed provisions of Proposition 13 and its successors for older or disabled homeowners who move, for children and grandchildren who inherit property, and for homeowners who move after their home is destroyed in a wildfire or other natural disaster.
In each case, the new proposition aims to prevent sudden jumps in assessed valuation, on which property taxes are based, for the new owner or new location.
But the new rules don’t lower taxes in as many situations as the old ones did, according to the Assessor’s Office website, and the reductions may not be as big. Notably, children or grandchildren who inherit their parent’s or grandparent’s home can only claim a lower assessment if it becomes their primary residence, not if they rent it out.
Any rental property you inherit will now be reassessed at current values. That’s according to the Prop 19 section of that website, which is at www.acassessor.org/proposition-19/.
Under the old law, people over 55 years of age, who are disabled or displaced by a natural disaster could relocate to a new home with no rise in property taxes. But that was limited both by the location and by value of the new home. Those restrictions have been lifted.
Gary Slate, the Chamber’s executive director, urged homeowners, but especially those 55 or older, to educate themselves about Prop 19.
“The older demographic, often affected by Prop 19, may have heard about Prop 19 but may not know much about it,” he said.
Slate said the Prop 19 program came at the request of Realtor members of the Chamber, who often deal with property tax questions either directly or for their clients. The Chamber recently started a Realtors subgroup and made it easier for individual Realtors to join the overall Chamber.
Upcoming Lunch & Learn events, usually held in person as well as on Zoom, will focus on issues of particular interest to small businesses, Slate said.
“We find some of our members have become successful but without some of the basics that would help small businesses live up to their full potential, like having a written business plan” he said. “Those really do help.”