Disney, princesses, and property taxes

My friends made fun of me when I took my daughter Sarah to Disneyland.  I had previously been outspoken about not exposing my daughter to the Disney princess experience and marketing machine.  My only defense is something that every parent understands - nothing prepares you for parenthood and it will challenge your presumptions in unexpected ways.   

So I ate my words, and took Sarah to Disneyland for her 5th Birthday.  It was a great trip!  We stayed at the park, went on all the rides and Sarah was literally speechless when we attended the princess lunch at Ariel’s Grotto.

Everyone knows that a visit to the Magic Kingdom is not cheap.  But, what many people do not know is that due to an unintended consequence of Prop 13 the Walt Disney Corporation only pays $0.05 a square foot in property taxes, while the average homeowner in California pays over $2.00 a square foot.   It is not fair that large corporations like Disney pay pennies on the dollar while our California schools have the largest class sizes in the nation.

Prop 13 was passed by voters to protect seniors on a fixed income – not multi-billion dollar corporations.  The time has come to fix Prop 13 by keeping the protections for homeowners, but assessing commercial properties taxes at their fair market value.  This single action would restore billions of dollars for education, police, fire, and infrastructure.