Increases funding for K-12 public schools, community colleges, and local governments by requiring that commercial and industrial real property be taxed based on current market value. Exempts from this change: residential properties; agricultural properties; and owners of commercial and industrial properties with combined value of $3 million or less. Increased education funding will supplement existing school funding guarantees. Exempts small businesses from personal property tax; for other businesses, exempts $500,000 worth of personal property. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Net increase in annual property tax revenues of $7.5 billion to $12 billion in most years, depending on the strength of real estate markets. After backfilling state income tax losses related to the measure and paying for county administrative costs, the remaining $6.5 billion to $11.5 billion would be allocated to schools (40 percent) and other local governments (60 percent).

FISCAL EFFECTS

Increased Taxes on Commercial Land and Buildings. Most owners of commercial land and buildings worth more than $3 million would pay higher property taxes. Only some of these property owners would start to pay higher taxes in 2022. By 2025, most of these property owners would pay higher taxes. Beginning in 2025, total property taxes from commercial land and buildings probably would be $8 billion to $12.5 billion higher in most years. The value of commercial property can change a lot from year to year. This means the amount of increased property taxes also could change a lot from year to year.

Decreased Taxes on Business Equipment. Property taxes on business equipment probably would be several hundred million dollars lower each year.

Money Set Aside to Pay Costs of the Measure. The measure sets aside money for various costs created by the measure. This includes giving several hundred million dollars per year to counties to pay for their costs of carrying out the measure. The measure would increase the amount of work county assessors do and could require changes in how they do their work. Counties could have costs from the measure before new money is available to cover these costs. The state would loan money to counties to cover these initial costs until new property tax revenue is available.

New Funding for Local Governments and Schools. Overall, $6.5 billion to $11.5 billion per year in new property taxes would go to local governments. 60 percent would go to cities, counties, and special districts. Each city, county, or special district’s share of the money depends on several things including the amount of new taxes paid by commercial properties in that community. Not all governments would be guaranteed new money. Some in rural areas may end up losing money because of lower taxes on business equipment. The other 40 percent would increase funding for schools and community colleges. Each school or community college’s share of the money is mostly based on how many students they have.