Hi friends and family,
I'm on the fence about this proposition, I think we could have done better. But it does look like it's going to pass...
First, I would like to say the original proposition put forward in 2018 (Prop 5) was the one I supported. It was narrowly defeated in 2018 and that proposition had no inheritance impact or increases on property taxes if transferred properly between family members.
This latest version, Proposition 19, is more restrictive, costly to taxpayers and a little confusing. Then, throwing in the “Wildfire victims and wildfire fund” at the last minute is a little deceptive and just plain politics. I suspect that is the main reason this version is passing this time around. Hopefully, the victims of Wildfires and a Wildfire response fund will be a great success. But not ALL the revenue will be going to this fund. It clearly states this fund will be “partly” funded by this tax increase. Some are saying this fund will not see any of the money until 2025 So, we will see with this vague wording, who really ends up with the millions of dollars of taxes that will most certainly be collected.
The good news is we are still getting some great benefits out of this Proposition 19. You can now carry your current property tax with you to a new property up to three times and it can also be a more expensive property. Also, it can be anywhere in California now instead of just select counties. This Prop 19 is essentially replacing prop 60/90 And also changing Prop 58. In that existing 60/90 version you can take this tax break only one time and the most restrictive part being the next property you purchase MUST be of equal or lesser value to get the property tax transfer. This is the most restrictive part of the current prop 60/90 in my opinion and will be a great benefit to a lot of folks who want to move but could not afford the property tax increase they would normally incur otherwise.
There are a lot more details to cover so please if you have a property transfer coming up in the near or distant future call me. I have all the information on the inheritance restrictions/ tax increases and some possible ideas and suggestions to work around some of these..
Cheers, Chris and Kate Toogood
