The SF and California ballots, a property tax perspective

It's 10/10 Day, October 10, Liberation Day in China, the date (in 1911) when commenced the uprising leading to the end of the Imperial Court and the beginning of the democratic era.

The spiritual and intellectual titan of modern China was Sun Yat-sen. The centerpiece of his economic and democratic reform was a commitment to "The Land for the People," and the legislative crystallization of this commitment was socializing the potential market rent value of land. In short, he advocated a property tax that economically speaking, collected 95% of the annual potential rent of "location, location, location."

This morning, The Commons SF will review the San Francisco and California ballots from a real estate tax perspective. We'll review the ballot propositions and measures through the lens of "The Land for the People."

The outcome will be clarity about the complexity of outcomes of voting Yea or Nay on ballot items in the absence of a Sun Yet-sen style of taxation. In short, we'll muddle the clarity special interests have about the ballot once their commitment to not sharing land values is exposed.