By Rich Constantine
As Mayor of Morgan Hill, I know our city is strongest when we have great schools, thriving small businesses and high-quality public services. That’s why I’m supporting Proposition 15, the Schools & Communities First initiative on the November ballot.
Proposition 15 would close a commercial property tax loophole that a handful of the oldest and largest corporations in California have used for decades to avoid chipping in their fair share for the public services we all use. Disneyland in Anaheim, for example, pays taxes based on land values last fully assessed in 1975—while its ticket prices have increased over 1,600 percent since then.
Prop 15 would make corporations like Disney and Chevron pay taxes based on the actual value of their property, reclaiming up to $12 billion each year statewide for our schools and communities.
Locally, Prop 15 would bring up to an estimated $2.5 million a year for the City of Morgan Hill, $5 million for the Morgan Hill Unified School District, and millions more for our county and other agencies like fire protection districts. At our schools, that funding would let us upgrade technology in our classrooms, reduce class sizes so students get more individual support, and support music and arts education. For our city, Prop 15 will help us restore services we’ve been forced to cut due to Covid-19 budget shortfalls, fix our streets and help all our residents access fast broadband internet.
Making Morgan Hill an inviting city for both people and businesses is one of my top priorities as mayor, and Prop 15 will help. It asks giant corporations that can easily afford to pay their share to do so, while supporting the mom-and-pop firms that have been hit so hard by this pandemic.
Prop 15 would not affect small businesses that own less than $3 million in property, and by eliminating taxes on up to $500,000 of equipment like computers and fixtures, will provide a tax cut for most small companies. For firms that rent their property, an independent study commissioned by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation found that since landlords set rents based on what the market will bear, Prop 15 will not impact small business renters.
Importantly, Prop 15 also exempts all residential property. Homeowners like myself and our neighbors who rent are fully protected—our property taxes will not go up due to Prop 15.
Unfortunately, the big corporations that would finally pay their fair share under Prop 15 are resorting to scare tactics to keep their loophole. Massive real estate firms and oil companies like Chevron are spending millions—funneled through political action committees so their names don’t show up on ads—on slick mailers and TV ads falsely claiming Prop 15 would hurt homeowners and barber shops.
These are simply lies intended to confuse and distract us. Fact-checkers like Politifact have found them false, a judge ordered opponents to change “false or misleading” ballot arguments, and even Facebook flagged one ad as “false information.”
The truth, as this year has made so clear, is that we all depend on essential public services. Nurses and health clinic workers are on the front lines of this pandemic. Anyone with kids doing remote learning right now knows the importance of schools and teachers. When some of our neighborhoods had to evacuate during the SCU fire, I knew as a former firefighter that we could have used twice as many fire crews—but they were spread thin across the state.
This election, we can invest in a stronger future that funds all these services. It’s time for corporations to pay a more equitable share to support the vibrant communities that we all need to thrive. Let’s reclaim $12 billion a year for our schools and neighborhoods, all while protecting homeowners, renters, and small businesses. Vote yes on Prop 15.
Rich Constantine is Mayor of Morgan Hill.
