HJTA FIGHTS TO REPEAL CA’S NEW DEATH TAX
Last November, many voters were unaware that Proposition 19, which passed narrowly, included a provision that affected intergenerational transfers of homes and other property. Prior to Prop. 19, parents could transfer a home of any value plus up to $1 million of assessed value of other property to their children, without reassessment to market value. However, effective February 16, 2021, this is no longer true.
HJTA is fighting to restore the ability of parents to pass property to their children without any change to the property tax bill.
The new initiative is titled the Repeal the Death Tax Act. It would reverse the Prop. 19 changes to the rules affecting intergenerational transfers. To further protect California families, the measure includes an inflation adjustment for properties in addition to the primary residence. Up to $2.4 million of assessed value would be excluded from reassessment upon transfer, offering significant tax benefits to families that own small business properties or rental units for income. A primary residence of any value would be excluded from reassessment.
As the organization responsible for the successful campaign to pass Proposition 13 in 1978, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has long experience with initiatives. It is challenging to qualify measures for the ballot. The Repeal the Death Tax Act needs 997,139 valid signatures of registered voters in order to be on the November 2022 ballot, and we would need to collect about 1.3 million to be sure of meeting the requirement. Adding to the difficulty, the timeline is tight. Petition circulation cannot begin until the attorney general has issued a title and summary in early November, and the deadline to collect the necessary signatures is April 29, 2022.
This will not be easy, and to move forward we have to be convinced that qualification has a real chance of success.
That’s why HJTA needs your help to make this happen.
Can we count on you to help collect signatures? If you can collect a few, we will mail you a petition with complete instructions. If you would like to set up a table and collect signatures in your neighborhood, we’ll send you a table banner, petitions and other materials to help get the word out. Volunteers will have to collect a total of thousands of signatures per day, all across the state, to win this battle to repeal the death tax.
HJTA is able to fight for taxpayers because of the generous contributions of its Members. If you are comfortable donating to help repeal the death tax, please make a donation to the Repeal the Death Tax Committee, which pays campaign expenses related to ballot measures.
To sign up to volunteer or to make a donation to this important effort to protect Prop. 13 for our children, please visit www.hjta.org/RepealTheDeathTax.
While you’re at the website, be sure to check out the Death Tax Calculator. When you see how much the death tax will cost your family, you’ll know why HJTA is fighting so hard to repeal the death tax.
For more information on how to volunteer or support this effort, visit www.hjta.org/RepealTheDeathTax, or email info@hjta.org or call our offices at 916-444-9950 or 213-384-9656. Thank you for your support!