Is California overtaxed?

February 22, 2013

President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Jon Coupal spoke before San Luis Obispo property and business owners Thursday about the level of taxation they face in California and how it may continue to increase.

Speaking at the San Luis Obispo Property and Business Owners’ Association luncheon, Coupal discussed the California tax increases resulting from the passage of Proposition 30, as well as the current threats to Proposition 13.

“We now have by far and away the highest income tax rate in America, and we have the highest sales tax rate,” Coupal said. “This is a very hostile place to live if you are a taxpayer or a business.”

California voters approved Proposition 30  by a margin of more than 10 percent. San Luis Obispo County voters also approved of the measure by a nearly 8 percent margin.

Just as Proposition 30 proponents used education funding to gain support for new taxes, Coupal said potential tax dollars for schools serve as a threat to taxpayers who wish to keep the proposition’s two-thirds vote requirements intact.

“If a school district is to put a parcel tax on the ballot, they need a two-thirds vote,” Coupal said. “If we lose a two-thirds vote at the local level for parcel taxes, I think property taxes in California will explode.”

During Tuesday’s San Luis Coastal school board meeting, one trustee pled for a lowering of the threshold on parcel taxes to 55 percent as a way to combat the growing district deficit.

Coupal said the current Democratic super majority in the California legislature may move forward with similar proposals that “chip away” at the tax suppressions built into Proposition 13.

Founder of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Howard Jarvis, authored Proposition 13, which passed with more than 60 percent of the vote in 1978.