The purpose was to prevent governments from taking advantage of real estate booms, like we had from ca. 2000-2005, to increase property taxes so high that people had to sell their homes in order to pay the taxes. Prior to Proposition 13, many retired elderly were caught in the vicious booms that basically took away their homes because they couldn't pay the taxes on their retirement salaries. One significant problem with Proposition 13 is that in a time of real estate busts like that which is occurring right now, the government is not required to re-value your property for you to come up with a new tax basis. They can, and sometimes they do. If you disagree with the assessed value on your home, you can ask the Assessment Appeals Board to re-value your home. Make sure you have good documentation about why you disagree with the assessed value, and what you think the assessed value should be. You don't always win in front of the Assessment Appeals Board, but you'll never know if you don't ask. For information on Property Tax Relief and the Application for Review of Assessment, contact the County Assessor at http://www.sdarcc.com or (619) 236-3771. For information on Assessment Appeals, contact the Clerk of the Board at http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/cob/aab/index.html or (619) 531-5600. For more information from the San Diego County Tax Assessor, visit his web site. ***** If you need help buying or selling a home anywhere in San Diego County, please contact me. I'll help you find just the right home or just the right buyers to meet your real estate needs, wants, and goals. If you're in town to visit and decide you'd like a vacation home here, or would like to move here, let me know. I'm available 24/7, so don't hesitate to contact me by phone or email. *****
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Way back when I was just a teenager -- 1978 -- the citizens of California passed an initiative that limits property taxes. The initiative was called Proposition 13 and limits property tax increases to no more than 2% per year.
If you bought your home in 2006 for $400,000 and have watched the value decline to $200,000, you might be getting a new tax bill on that $400,000 home that is 2% higher than last year's.
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