[OC] A 1.29-acre house in Los Angeles pays more property tax than the 308-acre country club across the street

27 comments

1. Source: Los Angeles County Assessor, current roll (parcel records via the assessor’s public portal). Boundaries from OpenStreetMap.

   Tools: Python for the parcel pull and geometry, SVG for the render.

   The gap comes from two things:

   Proposition 13 (1978) freezes assessed value at its 1975 base and caps growth at 2%/yr until a property changes hands, the club hasn’t sold, so its land is still carried on a 1975 base year.

   Then Article XIII §10 of the California Constitution (passed 1960) requires that a nonprofit golf course of 10+ acres be assessed on its use as a golf course rather than on what the land is actually worth.

   The country club allegedly charges an est. $250k initiation fee to join.

2. Prop 13 is cancer and we should repeal it

3. La county should force these golf courses to pay an equivalent tax

   What a waste

   Imagine if that golf course was a public park

4. Prop 13 is so garbage. It also makes it so people keep property they don’t even need anymore and keeps home supply artificially low.

   Why would a retired couple downsize the home they don’t need anymore if their property taxes would go way up by downsizing?

5. For those that don’t know, California property tax taxes you based on the value you **BOUGHT** the property at. It’s not based on the current market value that is reassessed every year.

   So if you bought a Californian house for $100,000 and then 20 years later that same house is now worth $2 million, you are still only paying the tax based on the $100,000. This is dumbed down version of it, there is a 2% maximum limit increase in the tax adjusted, but that amount is small.

6. Land Value Tax would solve this

   Or just literally any sensible property tax reform

7. This is ridiculous, but it’s also a little misleading to call a 33,652 square foot 11-bed 27-bath estate on an acre of land in the middle of west LA (appealingly situated next to a fancy country club) a “single family home”, which makes it sound like any old picket fence cookie cutter from the 60s.

8. This is the norm with golf courses everywhere, at least in my anecdotal research. Churches are even better, and those megachurch leaders take full advantage of the loop holes for their McMansions as being “primarily places of worship.”

9. Is that a billion dollar home?

10. This is a famous case. Property taxes are set at the time of sale. The country club is owned by members. Lots of new members buy in and sell every year. However, under local rules, these don’t count as “sales” to trigger reassessment. So the property taxes for one of the most valuable pieces of property in the world, have been fixed for decades, and there is no current path to reassessment. This is costing the city tens of millions of dollars in taxes every year.

11. Fuck prop 13. It’s ruining California. It’s long past time to repeal that shit.

12. I raise you Stanford.

    In the middle of Silicon Valley, where everyone bitches about housing and land prices and where they want to put 4 homes on everyone’s property in the wealthy areas and build huge apartment buildings in the same..

    Stanford owns over 8,000 mostly empty acres right in that prime area.

    Nobody even brings up the fact that all this empty land in prime areas is just sitting empty, owned by them.

    And what is their property tax for all of it?

    Zero.

13. This makes sense for residential properties. Just because the surrounding properties increased in value, doesn’t mean you can afford the property taxes at that value. Keeps people, especially people on fixed incomes in their homes.

14. California residents, contact your Assemblyperson and State Senator to advocate for a bill overturning Proposition 13.

15. But the house is worth 30 times as much?

16. Even with Prop 13 it seems to me that these equity private country clubs should be re-assessed every time a new member is allowed to buy into it. The way I understand it: If I bought a property 20 years ago for about $100,000 my property tax would still be based on that original sale, plus allowable increases, so say 1,500/year. If the property is now worth $500,000 and I sell half of my interest then the County Assessor will re-appraise the property and tax it based on the new value, or $5000/year. The new half owner would be responsible for $2,500 of that. However, since my 1/2 of the interest is still protected under Prop 13 then my taxes would be $750 (or remain at 1500, I don’t know how that works). If this is the case then the county assessor should increase the taxes on the property each time a new owner joins.

17. i love how everyone in here is going on and on about prop 13 but missing the actual point

    there are 23 states that offer massive property tax discounts for golf courses because they are a green space

    this isnt just a california or prop13 issue

    also wtf, that “house” was listed for $63.5million 4 years ago

    [https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/530-S-Mapleton-Dr-Los-Angeles-CA-90024/20524415_zpid/](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/530-S-Mapleton-Dr-Los-Angeles-CA-90024/20524415_zpid/)

18. A land value tax would fix this.

19. I think Malcom Gladwell did an episode on this for his Revisionist History podcast. I don’t like Gladwell very much but it was a good listen.

    It’s call A Good Walk Spoiled

20. I’m in this photo and I don’t like it one bit

21. Taxing property means the government owns it and you’re renting. Maddening.

22. Become a church building or synagogue – you’ll pay less than both.

23. Prop 13 remains one of the dumbest policies ever made. 

24. I pay more in taxes on my $50K 650 sq ft 1/8th acre vacation property than I do on my $1.6M 4700 sq ft 2.8 acre property.   What’s your point?

25. That country club produces infinity x more tax revenue on top of its property tax, wage tax alcohol tax, sales tax, cmon are yall that simple

26. This is not apples to apples at all

27. If you live in the area, and the cost to pay the cops/schools/parks increases, why shouldnt you get price out. Firefighters are paid whether your house has a fire or not, its not a free service. They arnt volunteers. You shouldnt get to lock in future wages and utilities cost. You’re connected to a water/sewer grid that everyone pays for.

    So if you cant afford to maintain a million dollar house, then sell and move somewhere else.

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