Questions & Answers
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The California Board of Equalization oversees important parts of the state’s property tax system. Its responsibilities include:
Overseeing property tax practices in all 58 counties.
Conducting assessment practices surveys.
Setting values for state-assessed utilities and railroads.
Administering certain taxes such as alcohol excise taxes.
Protecting taxpayer rights
The Board consists of four elected members plus the State Controller. Current members include Ted Gaines, Sally Lieber, Mike Schaefer, Antonio Vazquez, and State Controller Malia Cohen.
The Board meets regularly in Sacramento. After controversies in 2017, many administrative functions were moved to other agencies. Today the Board focuses primarily on property tax oversight and policy leadership.
Importantly, it also has soft power — the ability to help lead broader conversations about improving California’s tax system. -
California’s property tax base approaches nine trillion dollars. Property taxes fund:
schools
cities
counties
local services
California’s property tax system affects housing, local government finance, and economic opportunity. The Board of Equalization helps ensure fairness and uniformity in that system.
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Not at all. It oversees property tax administration across 58 counties and helps maintain fairness and consistency statewide.
It also has an extraordinary power that I intend to tap: the “soft power” to put comprehensive tax reform on the table. Our focus on property tax assessment gives us unique independence to call for change across all other taxes as well, without the political consequences other agencies face. We could put honest solutions on the table, like no other agency.
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Yes, the right kind of Republican can. One with a track record for bipartisan problem-solving like me.
I’m a Republican of the new old guard—inspired by my party when it abolished slavery, won women the vote, forged our National Parks, kept government out of your underwear drawer, championed genuine free enterprise, defended every word of the Constitution, and held officeholders to the rule of law.
District 2 includes 19 counties, from Del Norte to Ventura. It includes urban, suburban, rural, and agricultural communities.
Voters across the political spectrum want competent government and practical solutions. I’m not a typical candidate. I know how to build bipartisan coalitions that can deliver those solutions.
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Reduce taxes on things we want more of - like jobs, payroll, savings, and property improvements.
Shift them to things we don’t want - like pollution, Waste, speculation, and environmental destruction.
That includes pollution, waste, speculation, and chronic underuse of valuable land.