Everything You Wanted to Know but Were Afraid to Ask About Prop. 13

The California Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) released a new report to detail Prop. 13—a 1978 law that limited property taxes in the state with consequences lasting to this day.

The report, titled "Common Claims About Proposition 13," endeavors to answer the many questions about the impact of the law, with the data available to the LAO.

Call it a frequently asked questions document if you will, but anyone who wants to understand more about how land use policies intertwine with municipal finance in the nation's most populous state (and one suffering from similar crises of housing and infrastructure as much of the rest of the country) would do well to study the report.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Background
• Are Similar Property Owners Taxed Differently Under Proposition 13?
• Do Proposition 13’s Benefits for Property Owners Vary With Income?
• Does Proposition 13 Reduce Property Turnover?
• Did Proposition 13 Cause Residential Properties to Pay a Larger Share of Property Taxes?
• Does Proposition 13 Discourage New Business Creation?
• How Does Proposition 13 Affect the Stability of Property Taxes?
• How Did Proposition 13 Change Local Governments Mix of Tax Revenues?
• What Happened to Local Government Revenues After Proposition 13?
• Did Proposition 13 Reduce the Number of New Local Governments Formed?
• Does Proposition 13 Alter Local Government Land Use Decisions?
• Does Proposition 13 Alter Property Owners’ Development Decisions?
• Did Proposition 13 Increase Fees on Developers?
• Did Assessments Associated With Development Rise After Proposition 13?
• Does Proposition 13 Increase Homeownership?
• Figure Data Sources