I’ve always thought that Prop 13 should only apply to a single primary residence, and possibly one single commercial property that is owner-occupied. This would help small businesses who own their own properties, and would help shift commercial property ownership to those who do the actual work and who give value to the properties, instead of enriching landlords who, as gzz states, are often out-of-state/country commercial landlords.
The Prop 13 benefit for owner-occupied business properties could have a higher cap; instead of the 2% for residential properties, it could be 3 or 4%, though that’s not necessary. That being said, business properties are less likely to be affected by speculative activity, since rents are used to determine mortgage lending parameters for most of these properties (please correct me if I’m wrong here, HLS or other informed Piggs), so property taxes are less likely to be skewed by artificially high prices.
