Corporate property tax reform can provide vital funding for healthcare in California

As a pediatrician and longtime public health practitioner, I know how disastrous the Trump administration’s policies have been for young and low-income people.

This administration is eliminating affordable access to healthcare for millions of Americans, and has repealed the individual mandate from the Affordable Care Act. In October, President Trump ended insurer subsidies that will likely lead to a surge in health plan premiums, making healthcare options unaffordable to millions.

And to further bar the door, the administration announced drastic cuts to the program publicizing signup information for plans under the Affordable Care Act. The budget for advertising the program went from $100 million down to just $10 million. It is clear that California must take care of its own, as Trump and his enablers never will.

Thankfully, doctors, teachers, small businesses, and everyday Californians are fighting to place an initiative on the ballot this November to combat some of these harmful policies. The California Schools and Local Communities Funding Act of 2018 will close an $11 Billion annual tax dodge for corporations and billionaires hidden in Proposition 13. The loophole allows corporations to claim the same property tax protections intended for homeowners – robbing local communities of billions of dollars.

In 1978, corporations and billionaires succeeded in giving themselves the same protections that voters had intended for homeowners, especially those on fixed incomes. This arrangement gives those who need it least a way to reduce their property taxes to levels adjusted to forty years ago. California local governments, which must cover many of the costs of education, public safety, county hospitals, parks and libraries, and the services that everyday people need most, confront a loss of $11 billion a year.

The California Schools and Local Communities Funding Act of 2018 will help restore critical funding to county health care facilities and, at the same time, will maintain all the protections homeowners and renters currently have under Proposition 13.

California, the world’s sixth largest economy, owes it to its citizens to look at every avenue possible to fund its vital local services. This critical reform will ensure that these new funds go directly to local communities for essential public services.

The push to close Prop 13’s corporate loophole is supported by working families and grassroots organizations from across the Golden State because this issue affects all of us, no matter what county or zip code you live in.

The measure will help Californians fight back against Donald Trump’s destructive agenda, which is a direct assault on our people and our values. While big business plans to spend countless millions to stop this movement, now is the time for us to stand up for our families and our communities.

Politics these days is more divisive and hate-filled than ever before. But this measure cuts across the partisan divide and is simply about common sense. It’s about right and wrong. It’s about what kind of state we want to be.

As a physician, I believe that healthcare is a right and not a privilege for the rich. We should be protecting California’s most vulnerable, not the billionaires and corporations who can afford to exploit Proposition 13 to boost their bottom line when they are making more money than ever before.

Health is more than just medical care; we need safe and healthy communities,--ones that care for us all, in particular, our most vulnerable citizens. A doctor’s visit once a year is the tip of the iceberg. Health is a lifelong process, from before a child is born, through every moment of their lives. We in California must take care of our own, and we know how to do it. Now is the time to stand up for our fellow Californians and to right the wrong parts of Prop 13 and restore vital funding to life-saving health efforts.

Richard Joseph Jackson, MD MPH FAAP HonAIA HonASLA

Richard Joseph Jackson is an emeritus Professor at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health. A pediatrician, he has served in many leadership positions with the California Health Department, including the highest as the State Health Officer. For nine years he was Director of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health and received the Presidential Distinguished Service award. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Jackson was instrumental in establishing numerous public health programs including California’s Birth Defects and Cancer Monitoring Programs, the national biomonitoring program to track chemical body burdens in the US population, and major laws including these that regulate chemicals including pesticides. Jackson lectures and speaks on many issues, particularly those related to built environment and health. He has co-authored the books: Urban Sprawl and Public Health, Making Healthy Places, and Designing Healthy Communities for which he hosted a four hour PBS series. He has served on many environmental and health boards, as well as the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Architects. He is an elected honorary member of the American Society of Landscape Architects as well as the American Institute of Architects.

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