If rents are delayed due to the Covid-19 Emergency,  property taxes should be delayed too! 

Background:  On March 4, 2020,  California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a State of Emergency and issued an executive order that allows cities and counties to delay indefinitely rental payments — if local governments vote to do so.  

Quarantined from rental income,  at-risk property owners are not inoculated from paying their property tax payments on time and in full.  Property taxes for the first half of 2020 are still due in full by April 10, 2020.   Property ownership is not a vaccine against financial distress any more than a tenancy is.

Many a kind-hearted county tax collector may rely on “reasonable cause and circumstances beyond the taxpayer’s control” when considering a property tax delay.   However,  such a subjective and tenuous extension (if granted) may only last until June, leaving many property owners dangerously exposed;  all on account of a public health crisis they and their tenants had absolutely no control over.  

If local governments can delay rental payments shouldn't they also be required to simultaneously delay property taxes?  Linking the rental payment delay to a similar delay in property tax payments ensures that these emergency actions are truly temporary and will not metastasize into a permanent policy long after we have beaten COVID-19. 

Request:   We hereby request that California Governor Gavin Newsom amend his March 4th executive order such that all local governments who do vote to delay rental payments are also required to delay property taxes.  Any temporary local government shortfall could be funded by short-term California State borrowings. During this emergency, we ask Governor Newsom to protect all Californians equally, without bias or prejudice.