Property Taxes

North Dakota voters resoundingly defeated an attempt to abolish the state's property taxes Tuesday and were set to allow the University of North Dakota to rename its controversial mascot, which critics say denigrates Native Americans. More than 70% of voters rejected a grass-roots effort to eliminate state property taxes, according to unofficial returns, even though North Dakota has a budget surplus that exceeds $1 billion, in part due to an oil boom. More than 27,000 residents had signed a petition to get the measure on Tuesday's ballot.

SACRAMENTO - Are California voters ready yet to change Proposition 13 so that all corporations pay their fair share of property taxes? A new nonpartisan poll indicates they might be. But a better, more relevant question is whether any state political leader - namely a governor - is courageous enough to lead the charge. Answer: Of course not. Gov. Jerry Brown told me five years ago, before he was elected to a third term as governor, that "messing with 13 is a big fat loser. " Clearly he hasn't changed his mind.

There is one more consideration that Brian Roney (letter regarding Prop. 13, Nov. 17) left out. Those long-term neighbors have already paid for streets and sidewalks, parks, fire and police stations and other administrative buildings. Maybe Roney is just paying extra taxes to catch up. EDWIN CANE San Gabriel

SCRANTON, Pa. - When Detroit filed for bankruptcy, hundreds of residents took to the streets to protest what they saw as a drastic approach to fixing the city's budget problems. But in this hilly town of 76,000 in northeastern Pennsylvania, residents have a different view of Chapter 9: They want the city to declare bankruptcy. And soon. "The silent majority would like to see bankruptcy," said Bob "Ozzie" Quinn, president of the Scranton and Lackawanna County Taxpayers Assn.

Orange County property owners have until midnight tonight to pay the second installment on property taxes or face a late charge. Taxpayers who prefer to pay in person can visit the Tax Collector's Public Information Office in the Hall of Finance and Records, 12 Civic Center Plaza, Room G-58. Those who want more information can call the Treasurer-Tax Collector's office at (714) 834-3411. Last-minute taxpayers also have the option of mailing their taxes, but John M.W.

Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez and tax consultant Ramin Salari, who are accused of orchestrating a wide-ranging pay-to-play scheme, were hit with a dozen new felonies Monday charging them with illegally lowering taxes on three more commercial buildings. Both men pleaded not guilty to the new charges, which include grand theft and embezzlement, and have denied wrongdoing since their arrests in October 2012. Prosecutors say Salari paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes over the years to get Noguez and two of his deputies to illegally lower property taxes for his clients.

SAN FRANCISCO - Sandwiched between rows of homes in the fog-kissed Mission Terrace neighborhood, Little City Gardens provides salad greens and fresh-cut flowers to local restaurants from what was once a weedy vacant lot. Like many of California's urban agriculture practitioners, however, Caitlyn Galloway is plagued by a key uncertainty: She is on a month-to-month lease with a landlord who must recoup the lot's steep property taxes and may soon...

Los Angeles lawmakers Wednesday agreed to pursue further analysis of an ambitious $3-billion proposal to fix thousands of miles of the city's most deteriorated streets. The money could come from a mix of sources, officials say, including a property tax or borrowing against future sales or gas tax revenues. One option would be to ask property owners to increase taxes the equivalent of 1% of their property's value, paid over 29 years. On a home worth $600,000, that would mean paying about $200 more a year.

Has anyone started a pool on how long Proposition 13 will remain standing, the way it now stands? The process that made Proposition 13 possible is 100 years old, but the revolutionary tax makeover is 35. And it could be argued that its effect on the Golden State has been almost as fiscally immense as those 1913 reforms that gave us the initiative, proposition and recall have been for the body politic. But like those reforms, the unwritten law of unintended consequences means Proposition 13 is showing some unlovely signs of aging.

Labor groups are targeting one of Los Angeles' most prominent real estate operations, mall giant Westfield, in a new campaign to highlight business property tax breaks tied to Proposition 13. A group of unions and anti-poverty organizations calling itself the ReFund LA Coalition launched a campaign last week against Australia-based Westfield Group, which they say has benefited from harmful tax policy established by the 35-year-old tax limiting initiative....

SACRAMENTO -- The budget won't be the only big issue being considered by the Assembly on Friday. Democrats have scheduled a vote on a controversial constitutional amendment that would make it easier for cities and counties to raise property taxes or issue bonds to pay for infrastructure improvements. Under the amendment, bond issue proposals would need only 55% of the vote to pass, rather than the current two-thirds. The same reduced threshold would apply to votes on raising property taxes to cover the cost of the borrowing.

Two prominent defenders of Proposition 13 spoke out on Tuesday against "gimmicks" used by some companies to avoid paying additional property taxes when buying real estate in California. Responding to a Los Angeles Times story that ran Sunday, the presidents of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. and the Small Business Action Committee said they would be open to narrow legislation to fix the law, which appears to allow such deals. The statements mark a shift for two organizations that have long led the fight against changes to Proposition 13, the 1978 ballot initiative that transformed property taxes in California and sparked a nationwide tax revolt.

In 2006, billionaire computer magnate Michael Dell, one of the world's richest men, agreed to pay $200 million for the Fairmont Miramar Hotel, a beachfront landmark in Santa Monica that long has been a retreat for Hollywood starlets and U.S. presidents. A few months later, Dell tore up the contract. He still wanted the hotel. But his attorneys had found a simple way to reshuffle the deal to avoid a legal change in ownership. The maneuver saved about $1 million a year in property taxes -- an option available only to businesses, not homeowners, under the arcane rules governing Proposition 13. The Miramar deal illustrates how businesses can easily -- and legally -- avoid property tax hikes under the California ballot initiative passed in 1978.