Gov. Deukmejian on State Budget and Times Response
Your March 17 editorial (“We Must Begin Now”) proposes that there be “a split roll in the property tax so that businesses would pay at a higher rate than homeowners.” But, thousands of homeowners in the Los Angeles area own homes worth over $1 million, far exceeding the value of many small commercial properties.
A sounder “split roll” change would be that adopted in Pennsylvania where 10 cities, including Pittsburgh, Scranton and Harrisburg, now tax land values at a much higher rate than homes and buildings. This reform encourages home construction, industrial growth, and more compact development, and discourages the runaway land speculation that has made affordable housing so difficult to attain in California.
HARRY POLLARD
Tujunga
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