Mike Solana

How about a tax on tech people who just arrived into the state, then got windfalls of 7-11+ figures when IPO? Why are you doing a class war thing in such a glass house?

It’s more a class war to advocate for different taxation for different groups, as is the status quo. What is it about a person who bought their house 15 years ago that should give them a lower rate of taxation on their insanely valuable property?

Imagine a family who had a home in Atherton since the 50's when it was a dinky rural town, not the richest zip code on the planet. They're not computer programmers or experts in predicting stocks go up or down. Maybe a plumbers and a librarian. 2.5 kids, grown. 1/?

There's no way they can move anywhere close to where they're living, but at least they can stay put for awhile. When the 2.5 kids have grown and they're ready to retire, they look elsewhere. Maybe they're tired of the traffic and the filth when they make it to The City. 2/?

So, they sell their house for really massive profits, and get to move just about anywhere in the world to live comfortably to live out their golden years. Or maybe they have something to pass to their kids. 3/?

Prop 13 helps these people stay in California. No, I don't want to increase their taxes. Instead, if you want things to be "fair", I suggest lowering taxes for new property owners to match that of the longer-term owners. 4/fin

To be clear, I'm also in favor of the "lower the taxes" strategy as well. This all being said, the taxes that need to be lowered/eliminated the most are income taxes on those making less than $60k/year. They should pay 0%-5% total, not 25%-35%.