Author: Andrew Flynn

Parcel taxes are likely unconstitutional. The legislature should fix that.

Parcel taxes are likely unconstitutional. The legislature should fix that.

Overview Local governments have increasingly relied on parcel taxes — taxes on property that are assessed independent of a property’s value — to generate revenue and avoid longstanding tax reform measures like Proposition 13. The California Supreme Court’s recent decision in California Cannabis Coalition v. City of Upland lowered the threshold for voters to pass such taxes, so they are likely to increase. Parcel taxes, however, are legally suspect and largely unregulated: statutes barely mention parcel taxes,[1] and almost no judicial decisions or legal scholarship discuss them.[2] The current unregulated parcel tax system is untenable and requires judicial and legislative...