California voters reject ballot measure to raise taxes on commercial properties

California voters are projected to have rejected a ballot measure that was aimed at increasing property tax revenue from commercial properties.

The Associated Press issued its projection late Tuesday. The latest tallies on the California secretary of state’s website show about 52 percent of voters rejecting the measure and about 48 percent supporting it.

The measure, Proposition 15, would have required commercial properties worth more than $3 million to be taxed based on the price at which they could be sold, rather than their purchase price. The measure was designed to partially roll back limits on property taxes imposed by 1978’s Proposition 13.

According to a voter guide put out by the secretary of state’s office, the measure would have provided $6.5 billion to $11.5 billion per year for schools and local governments.

The measure was supported by a number of prominent Democratic politicians, including President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who represents California in the Senate, as well as labor groups. Supporters argued that it would raise valuable revenue and make the state’s tax system fairer, since currently properties that were purchased recently face higher taxes than properties purchased years ago.

Proposition 15 was opposed by a number of business groups, which argued that commercial property tax increases would be passed along to small businesses that lease space in the buildings.

State tax-related ballot measures have yielded mixed results for progressives this year. Voters in Arizona approved a ballot measure to raise income taxes on high-income households, but voters in other states rejected measures to raise taxes on the wealthy or supported cutting taxes.