Theme 1: Land Value Tax (LVT) as an efficient, unavoidable tax
Supporters argue LVT targets immobile land, discourages speculation, and cannot be avoided by leaving or passed to renters.
“Land value taxes shift tax burden away from productive use of land and on to unproductive uses of land. The people who pay more are land speculators and those with empty lots, and the people who pay less are those productively using the land, which is 99% of homeowners and businesses.” – epistasis
“The land value tax can’t be dodged by leaving nor can it be passed on to renters.” – cucumber3732842
Theme 2: Proposition 13 distorts California’s housing market
Many see Prop 13’s assessment caps and inheritance loopholes as inflating home prices, worsening affordability, and discouraging new construction.
“Old voters like the house they brought 20 years ago for 100k being worth 1.5 million today. They also like not paying taxes on that 1.4m in wealth accumulation.” – 999900000999
“Prop 13 should only cover primary residences… This single change would fix the majority of the state's tax shortfall.” – binlog
Theme 3: Feasibility and fairness of taxing wealth / unrealized gains
Debate centers on whether billionaires’ paper wealth is “real,” can be taxed without avoidance, and whether such taxes would simply drive them away.
“I hope we agree that we need more taxes, it doesn’t matter if they are taxes on billionaires, taxes on property, taxes on sales, taxes on crypto, or taxes on the poor.” – cuzezzzbbfofai
“Net worth is not real… The wealth is mostly tied up in assets that ain’t exactly liquid.” – xienze
“If you let someone get to hundreds of billions in net worth and then realize they haven’t been appropriately paying back into the system, it’s already too late.” – palmotea
Theme 4: Housing shortage stems from supply constraints, not taxation
Commenters repeatedly argue that zoning limits, NIMBYism, and insufficient construction—not tax policy—are the root of high rents and prices.
“You can't solve a shortage with demand subsidies. You need to expand supply. SF has too little housing relative to its population… it just bids up and reshuffles the existing ones.” – jdm2212
“This is almost completely traceable to Californians' failure to allow sufficiently dense housing to be built on their doorsteps.” – linkregister
Theme 5: Government inefficiency and waste undermine calls for more revenue
A recurring skepticism is that additional taxes would be wasted due to fraud, mismanagement, or misallocated spending, so reform must come first.
“For a long time I agreed with you, but seeing how the tax money is spent I cannot agree any longer. In most cases government is no longer even spending the money itself, instead it is giving the money to NGOs.” – aeternum
“$24 B unaccounted for and lost that was supposed to be for homelessness. $12 B already spent on high speed rail and they want $120 B more. $50 B in EDD unemployment fraud during the pandemic.” – freediddy