California has had a housing crisis for years, an issue that lies in California’s property tax laws, specifically Proposition 13. This proposition, disguised as a measure to protect older Californians when, in reality, it is ruining our schools and is being exploited by businesses, demonstrates that elder voting power is a force to be reckoned with, and this flawed proposition takes advantage of that. According to the AARP, in the 2020 presidential election, 71% of Americans aged 65 and older voted compared to 46% of Americans aged 18 to 29. Their immense power, combined with their vulnerability, creates a perfect opportunity for abuse. Proposition 13 restricts property taxes from raising more than 2% a year for homes within California, as it was designed to protect older Californians who had bought their homes years ago and struggled to keep them due to rising property taxes. This seems like a great idea, but when you consider that property prices rise significantly more than property taxes every year and that 13 applies to all properties, including businesses, the problem becomes evident.

From Apple stores to Airbnbs to your local slum lord, property taxes don’t raise more than 2% a year for them either. According to The California Legislative Analyst’s Office, California loses 8 to 12.5 billion dollars yearly in tax revenue because of 13. Public schools depend on property taxes to fund themselves. Because property taxes are so low for many Californian properties, most importantly businesses, schools are losing significant money—this loss in school funding forces California to increase income tax and sales tax. An easy fix would be to amend the proposition so the property tax cap doesn’t apply to commercial businesses. Proposition 15 is this exact amendment and was added to the 2020 ballot. It was citizen-initiated and exempted commercial properties worth over 3 million dollars from the tax benefit of 13. Unfortunately, many businesses with enough money to run oppositional ads did that. Businesses didn’t want to give up their comfy tax benefits, so they fear-mongered older Californians that Proposition 15 would kick them out of their homes. According to an Edsource writer, John Fensterwald, “Other ads falsely claimed Prop. 15 would equal a $900 tax increase for every family in the state,” but it only applied to businesses. In the end, Proposition 15 failed because of the manipulation of older voters by businesses hoping to keep their property taxes low in California.