California Proposition 19, which passed in the November 2020 election, has several significant impacts on California property owners.
One of the primary impacts of Prop 19 is that it changes the rules surrounding property tax transfers for homeowners who are over the age of 55, disabled, or victims of natural disasters. Under the new law, these homeowners will be able to transfer their property tax base to a new home anywhere in the state, regardless of the value of the new property. This means that seniors and other eligible homeowners can potentially downsize to a smaller home while still retaining their current, lower property tax rate.
Another impact of Prop 19 is that it limits the ability of parents to transfer property to their children without triggering a reassessment of the property’s value for tax purposes. Under the new law, parents will only be able to transfer their primary residence to their children without a reassessment if the property is worth less than $1 million more than its original purchase price. This change will likely result in higher property tax bills for some families who inherit property from their parents.
If you are looking for information on California’s Proposition 19, there are several reliable sources you can turn to for information. The first place to start is the official California Secretary of State website, which provides an overview of the proposition, the full text of the proposition, and a list of arguments for and against it.