By Jon Coupal
In a major victory for California taxpayers, the Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Proposition 13 has qualified for the November 2026 ballot. Last Tuesday, the California Secretary of State reported that proponents, led by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, had turned in more than enough valid signatures to county registrars, ensuring that voters will be given an opportunity to restore the original intent of Proposition 13.
This important new taxpayer initiative would not have been necessary were it not for the unrelenting attacks on Proposition 13 by anti-taxpayer forces that began in 1978, immediately after its passage. These include decisions by a hostile California judiciary which, especially in the last two decades, have sided with the government and its special interest benefactors by creating loopholes that significantly weakened taxpayer protections that had stood for over 40 years.
Perhaps the worst of these unjustified loopholes occurred in 2017 with the California Supreme Court’s ruling in California Cannabis Coalition v. City of Upland. That ruling, although somewhat oblique, gave the green light to local governments to impose local special taxes without the two-thirds vote required by the plain language of Prop. 13, if the taxes were put on the ballot by signatures on petitions instead of an action by the government.
In response, local governments exploited the ruling to impose all kinds of unconstitutional taxes – backed by tax-and-spend special interests –costing taxpayers billions of dollars that they would not have had to pay if the courts had followed the letter and the spirit of the law.
The Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Proposition 13 Act of 2026 will reverse the court-created loophole in the two-thirds vote requirement and revive this important taxpayer protection. But there’s more.
In addition to restoring the two-thirds vote for local special taxes, the Act will also restore the limitation on equity-stealing real estate transfer taxes. For decades, even before Prop. 13, taxes on the sale or transfer of real property were limited to $1.10 per $1,000 of property value. However, following Prop. 13’s passage, many cities began imposing real estate transfer taxes in excess of $45 per $1,000 of value. Even worse, because of the Upland decision, local governments operating behind the front of “citizen groups” can propose “special taxes” by initiative, evading the requirement of a two-thirds vote of the electorate to pass. And while the courts originally said transfer tax revenue must go into a municipality’s general fund, special taxes under Upland can be exclusively directed to whatever the local government, or special interest group, wants. The worst abuse of the Upland ruling occurred in Los Angeles where, because of Measure ULA, high-value properties are now subject to a punishingly excessive transfer tax.
Even though the express language of Prop. 13 prohibits any “transaction tax or sales tax on the sale of real property,” courts have created – out of whole cloth – a convoluted series of decisions to allow them to be imposed.
The Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Proposition 13 prohibits the transfer tax loophole from being used in the future and “sunsets” both special and general transfer taxes that exceed the existing state limit of 0.11%, ending abusive tax measures such as Measure ULA in two years.
While California desperately needs comprehensive tax relief, the qualification of the Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Proposition 13 for the November ballot is an important first step in reclaiming California for the state’s beleaguered taxpayers. It is the citizens who are paying way too much in taxes for poorly delivered public services by a corrupt and indolent political machine.
Moreover, while the qualification was a necessary step in achieving relief for taxpayers, it is not sufficient. Taxpayers must now run an aggressive campaign between now and election day to secure the victory we need. It is bound to be a bruising battle against entrenched special interests.
But given what is at stake, taxpayers are clearly up to the task.
Those who want to help in this battle are encouraged to visit www.SaveProp13.com.
Jon Coupal is president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
