Awesome letter, edna. Thanks for sharing. I think as more “Prop. 13 original owners” die and leave their properties to their heirs, it will become more and more palatable to the voting public to have a closer look at Prop. 13 and find ways to dismantle it, either piecemeal (repealing Prop. 58) or in its entirety. It’s not a fair system for the vast majority of CA property owners today and is becoming less and less fair as the years roll by.
However, I’m all for leaving it in place for pre-1978 owners of their PRINCIPAL RESIDENCES only. This “grandfather” clause would eventually become moot, due to deaths. I agree that everyone else should be reassessed. Built into the system should be re-assessment triggers based upon the death of the original (Prop. 13) owner or a pre-death transfer of eligible property. To circumvent the (predicted) non-filing of death certificates with county recorders, ALL county health departments should furnish electronic lists of adult death certificates they issued to every county assessor once a month.
Sound a little like “Big Brother?” Prop. 13 proponents believe their rights to this perk are sacrosanct. If Prop. 13 was decimated, heirs would just take posssession but fail to take proper title if the property is in a trust or there are not enough assets to be probated. Who’s to know, anyway?? As long as they don’t want to borrow from the property, IMHO this could work, indefinitely.
