Posts Tagged: parcel

Lowering the vote threshold for passage of local school parcel taxes would likely allow far more to pass. But there is no evidence that it would expand their use beyond the sort of wealthy Bay Area school districts that already have them. These are the key findings of a report released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). The report assesses the potential effect of reducing the vote required to pass these taxes from two-thirds to 55 percent—a proposal the state legislature has been discussing. Although a parcel tax is one of the only local revenue options available to school districts, these taxes are not widespread. Only about 10 percent of districts have passed one, and the money raised amounts to less than 1 percent of total K–12 revenue.

Few issues spark more local controversy than the parcel tax, a levy on property that raises money for specific local programs, such as schools, roads and fire fighting.

But their size, scope and purpose vary dramatically. And despite the intense emotions they enflame locally, parcel taxes have rarely hit the state Capitol’s radar —