Berkeley, CA – Former U.S. Secretary of Labor and Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley Robert Reich has released one of his signature viral videos explaining the need for common sense commercial property tax reform in California. The video debuts today on www.MakeItFairCA.com and on www.RobertReich.org.
Reich takes viewers through our broken tax system step by step, explaining how Proposition 13, which was crafted to help homeowners, has been taken advantage of by large corporations and wealthy commercial property owners.
“They’re in the real economy – they’re supposed to compete on a level playing field with new companies whose property taxes are based on current market prices. That’s why what they own is called commercial property,” Reich says of commercial and corporate interests, some of which are paying property taxes on land valuations from the 1970s.
Reich urges viewers to get involved through Make It Fair, a coalition of more than 260 civil rights, religious, labor and community groups throughout the state. You can learn more about the fight to Make It Fair online at www.MakeItFairCA.com.
