Property Taxes

The "Blame 13" chorus is at it again. You can always count on it to sing "It's all Proposition 13's fault" during difficult economic times. The story has gone national, with columns in Time magazine and the New York Times taking shots at Proposition 13. The attacks are probably best summed up by an editorial cartoon picturing Proposition 13 as the beginning of the end for California civilization. Let's get the facts straight.

Taxing tobacco is cowardly. When politicians do it, they mostly hit the poor and the powerless. I've written that for a decade and I'm still writing it. That acknowledged, I believe it's time to raise the tobacco tax. Raise it by a hefty amount. Be a bully. It's cowardly because smokers are sitting ducks -- unlike billionaires, big corporations, labor brotherhoods and other political investors, er, campaign contributors. But there's no stomach for raising broad-based taxes -- income, sales, vehicle -- at least among Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican legislators and apparently the voters.

Taxing lessons Thanks to The Times, I now understand the following: Based on clauses in the bond issuance little-known to the voters, to pay for the cost of schools that may not be needed due to declining enrollment and that might not be operated in any event due to lack of operational funds, my property taxes will rise hundreds of dollars during the worst economic times since the 1930s. I have just two additional questions: Who do I contact to bring a lawsuit, and where do I sign the recall petition?

Strolling through emerald groves of orange trees, Tulare County citrus grower Allen Ishida said he reckons he'll have to sell some of his 270 acres to pay higher property taxes should his county pull out of a threatened farmland preservation program. Thirty miles down California 99, third-generation almond grower Don Davis was making similar calculations. Davis figures he could rip out rows of almond trees stretching over 480 acres near McFarland in Kern County and sell the land, if necessary.

If you're a homeowner, you may have received an official-looking letter recently informing you that your property needs to be reassessed for tax purposes. The cost of the reassessment is $179, but you'll have to pay an additional $30 if you don't mail in your application within the next few weeks. "It's a scam," Los Angeles County Assessor Rick Auerbach told me. "They're trying to make you think the letter comes from my office so you'll pay them to do something you could do yourself for free."

If you thought it was daunting to file a federal tax return last year, this year's filing season will give you the willies. Congress passed five major tax bills in 2008, making about 500 changes affecting parents, homeowners, philanthropists and disaster victims, among others. Half a dozen new tax breaks went into effect; some can be confusing. Here are some things to keep in mind as you deal with your taxes: Got stimulus?

Seems like only yesterday that I was at the Orange County fairgrounds to watch Arnold Schwarzenegger drop a wrecking ball on a car, symbolically crushing the auto tax to the delight of supporters who never asked how the governor-to-be might cover the lost revenue. Since then, he's continued to put that wrecking ball to use, crushing one campaign promise after another.