To the Editor:
In January we learned that a bill introduced by Sen. Ken Cuccinelli which would have required the counties to cap annual real estate tax increases to 5 percent, was rejected. As I received another incredible real estate tax increase (18 percent ) — I found that my property value since 2000, and hence my taxes on it, have increased by a whopping 59 percent!
When will this end? Will Virginia repeat the history of California, where in 1978 raging inflation had sent property tax bills in the Golden State soaring so high that many families had to sell their homes because they couldn't afford to pay their taxes?
California recovered because the voters had finally had enough. In June of 1978, California voters enacted Proposition 13 by a vote of 65 percent to 35 percent. Proposition 13 caps annual increases in property tax bills at 2 percent and allows reassessment only when property changes ownership. In an article dated July 30, 1998, “Proposition 13 Then, Now and Forever” by Stephen Moore (a director of fiscal policy studies at the Cato Institute), Mr. Moore states, “Proposition 13 ushered in a second California gold rush in the 1980s. California's economic surge in the years following Proposition 13 was to become the envy of the nation. In the 10 years after the passage of Proposition 13, incomes in California grew 50 percent faster than in the nation as a whole; jobs grew at twice the national pace. Even supporters of Proposition 13 never envisioned that it would unleash the spectacular entrepreneurial and commercial explosion that it did over the next decade.”
He goes on further by asking, “Did Proposition 13 really starve state and local services?” His response: “Hardly. In real dollars, California's budget climbed from $55 billion in 1980 to $97 billion in 1992 — a 75 percent increase above inflation! Only in government would a 75 percent real spending hike be considered inadequate and neglectful. What about revenues? In the 1980s, state tax revenues as a share of Californian's incomes actually rose — from 11 to 12 percent. California is not an undertaxed state today. According to the latest Tax Foundation data, the state-local tax burden today in California is 11.7 percent of personal income, compared with a national average of 11.5 percent. Proposition 13 merely moved California from one of the highest tax states in the nation to a slightly above-average tax state.
So will we succumb to the probable fate of California had they not enacted Proposition 13, by becoming one of the highest taxed states in the nation? Will we settle for forcing those on limited income (yes, I know there is a tax break for seniors and those with disabilities, but where does that leave the rest of us with limited income?) out of their home? Or will we finally say, “We’ve had enough?”
Although I don’t always agree with Sen. Cuccinelli’s views, he, at least in this instance, has proved more enlightened than most in our government by proposing a tax cap. I would suggest we put it to a vote of the people as they did in California, and, in pure democratic fashion, let the voters decide.
Cynthia Shang
Elk Run Road
Chantilly