BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1493
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Date of Hearing: June 28, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON REVENUE AND TAXATION
Anthony J. Portantino, Chair
SB 1493 (Committee on Revenue and Taxation) - As Amended: June
21, 2010
Majority vote.
SENATE VOTE : 33-0
SUBJECT : Property taxation.
SUMMARY : Implements several technical tax proposals relating to
the administration of property tax law. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Allows county assessors to notify a taxpayer of a change in
the base year value of the property via electronic mail, in
lieu of regular mail, at the written request of the taxpayer.
2)Clarifies that, for purposes of determining whether property
is eligible for exemption under a low-value exemption
ordinance, the base year value is calculated to include an
annual inflation factor, as specified.
3)Permits county assessors to dispose of certain paper
documents, provided that these documents have been preserved
in a medium that provides access to the documents, including
electronic document imaging.
4)Allows county assessors to provide annual value notices via
email, upon written request by the taxpayer.
5)Authorizes a county assessor to publish information about the
assessed value of property on the assessor's website, upon
approval of the county board of supervisors.
6)Allows treasurer-tax collectors to offer a tax-defaulted
property, for which a property tax welfare exemption has been
granted, at a price that the tax collector deems appropriate,
if no acceptable bids are received at a minimum price, as
defined.
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EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires assessors to mail all notices to taxpayers via the
United States Postal Service.
2)Authorizes a county board of supervisors to exempt from
property tax all real property with a base year value of
$10,000 or less.
3)Requires assessors to keep paper documents for six years after
the lien date for the tax year for which that document was
obtained. However, if the documents are microfilmed,
microfiched, imaged, or otherwise preserved on a medium that
provides access to the documents, then they may be destroyed
after three years.
4)Requires county assessors to notify taxpayers annually, by
mail, of increases in the assessed values of property by July
1, the date that the assessment roll must be completed.
However, an annual value notice is not required when the only
change in value is the application of the annual inflation
factor.
5)Allows treasurer-tax collectors to sell tax-defaulted property
at a price that is lower than the "minimum price," as defined,
at the same or the next scheduled tax sale if no acceptable
bids are received.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown, but probably none.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of this Bill . This bill is technical and
non-controversial and it is sponsored by the California
Assessors' Association and the California Association of
County Treasurer-Tax Collectors to improve local
administration of property tax laws for the benefit of
taxpayers and assessors alike.
2)Low-Value Property Exemption . Existing law authorizes a
county board of supervisors to exempt from property tax all
real property with a low base year value (Revenue and Taxation
Code Section 155.20). Thus, real property with a total base
year value of $10,000 or less qualifies for the "low value
ordinance" exemption. Similarly, personal property with the
SB 1493
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fair market value of $10,000 or less, and possessory interests
of $50,000 or less, may also be exempted from property tax.
Existing law refers to a "base year value" and does not
expressly specify whether an inflation factor should be taken
into account for purposes of determining the base year value.
The Board of Equalization's legal staff opined that the
inflation factor must be included in the calculations of base
year value. This bill is intended to eliminate confusion as
to whether original base year value or the adjusted base year
value is to be used for the purpose of exempting low-value
assessments and to clarify that inflation adjustments must be
taken into account in determining eligibility for the
low-value exemption.
3)Record Retention Requirements . Under existing law, an
assessor may destroy any document six years after the lien
date for the tax year for which tax document was obtained.
However, if the documents are microfilmed, microfiched,
imaged, or otherwise preserved on a medium that provides
access to the documents, then the assessor may destroy those
documents after three years. This bill allows assessors to
destroy any document immediately upon its preservation in a
medium that provides access to the document, as described, as
long as a true image of the document may be later retrieved.
4)Tax Sales of Welfare Exempt Property . Existing law allows tax
collectors, with the approval of the board of supervisors, to
offer tax-defaulted property at a price that is lower than the
"minimum" price, as defined, at the same or the next scheduled
tax sale if no acceptable bids for the property are received
at the minimum price. However, tax collectors do not have the
same discretion in the case of tax-defaulted property for
which a property tax welfare exemption has been granted
because they may offer the welfare-exempt property at a lower
minimum price only at the next sale. This bill authorizes tax
collectors to reduce the minimum price for welfare-exempt
properties and to offer those properties at a lower price at
the same tax sale.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Assessors Association (Sponsor)
SB 1493
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California County Treasurer-Tax Collectors (Sponsor)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Oksana Jaffe / REV. & TAX. / (916)
319-2098