Out of Town for Work or Family? Measure A Will Get You

Life is complicated.

People leave home for all kinds of reasons.

A temporary work assignment.

A sick parent.

A dying relative.

A long medical situation.

A difficult move.

A home that takes longer than expected to sell.

Rebuilding after a fire or other disaster.

Measure A does not does not exempt you from these life circumstances. You run afoul of any of them, and you'll likely end up paying $10,000.

Measure A gives City Hall the power to decide whether your reason for being away from home is good enough. And none of the circumstances above give you an exemption under the proposal.

That should concern every San Diegan.

Normal Life Should Not Trigger a $10,000 Tax

City Hall politicians want voters to believe Measure A is narrowly targeted.

But the fine print tells a different story.

Measure A defines an “empty home” as a residential unit left vacant for more than 182 days in a calendar year. It includes a list of exemptions and exclusion periods, but it does not clearly protect many ordinary life circumstances that can take people away from home for an extended period.

What if you take a temporary job out of town?

What if you spend more than half the year out of town caring for a sick or dying relative?

What if you have to move, list your home for sale, and it takes more than six months to get an offer you can accept?

Under Measure A, those situations will trigger a $10,000 tax bill.

Measure A Turns Personal Circumstances Into City Paperwork

This is the real problem.

Measure A does not treat homeowners like people with complicated lives.

It treats them like tax suspects.

If the City believes your home may be taxable, you may have to prove you qualify for an exemption or exclusion. If the City says your paperwork is late, incomplete, unsupported, or not good enough, you could be hit with the tax.

And the rules for proving your case are not even fully written yet.

They come later.

That means San Diegans are being asked to vote for a $10,000 tax before knowing exactly how the City will decide who owes it.

Caring for Family Should Not Put Your Home at Risk

Imagine you own a home in San Diego and need to leave town to care for a sick parent.

You are not a "land hoarder."

You are not trying to game the system.

You are not hiding an investment property.

You are taking care of family.

But if your San Diego home is vacant long enough and the City decides you do not qualify under Measure A’s limited exclusions, you could be forced to pay $10,000.

That is not compassionate.

That is not fair.

And it is not housing policy.

A Temporary Job Should Not Trigger a Housing Tax

The same problem applies to work.

People take temporary jobs outside San Diego for all kinds of reasons.

A military contractor.

A nurse.

A construction worker.

A consultant.

A caregiver.

A professor.

A professional on temporary assignment.

If they intend to return to San Diego and choose not to rent out their home while they are gone, why should City Hall threaten them with a $10,000 tax?

Measure A does not answer that question.

It just creates the tax and leaves City Hall to sort out the details later.

Trying to Sell a Home? Measure A Could Still Be a Problem

Selling a home can take time.

Sometimes the market slows down.

Sometimes repairs take longer than expected.

Sometimes a family is dealing with probate, divorce, job relocation, or financial stress.

Measure A does not include any protection for a homeowner actively trying to sell a home that remains vacant for more than 182 days.

That means another ordinary life circumstance can turn into another fight with City Hall.

Lost Your Home in a Fire or Other Disaster? Measure A May Still Get You!

Get this...if your house is destroyed in a fire, earthquake, or other natural disaster, is your home exempt from the Measure A $10,000, or will it be considered empty.

Read Measure A for yourself. The first thing Measure A asks is not, "how can we help you rebuild?"

No, Measure A asks, "Did you destroy your own home to avoid the tax?" Seriously.

And after you've proved you didn't burn down your own house to avoid Measure A, you have to navigate the incredibly complex process of rebuilding in San Diego and have your home rebuilt in two years, or San Diego will start billing you $10,000 per year.

In recent San Diego fires, well over half the homes had not been rebuilt and occupied after two years. Measure A has no compassion for that, just another $10,000 tax on top of your life being disrupted.

This Is How Bureaucracies Grow

Measure A is not just a tax.

It is a system.

A system where City Hall decides whether your home counts as empty.

A system where you have to prove you qualify for an exemption.

A system where future rules determine what paperwork is required.

A system where the City has a financial incentive to collect the $10,000.

And once that system exists, San Diegans will be stuck navigating it.

San Diegans Deserve Better

San Diego has real housing problems.

But Measure A does not solve them.

It does not guarantee lower rents.

It does not guarantee new affordable housing.

It does not put the money into a dedicated housing fund.

Instead, it creates a new $10,000 tax and gives City Hall broad power to decide who gets caught in it.

Normal life should not trigger a $10,000 tax.

Caring for family should not trigger a $10,000 tax.

Taking a temporary job should not trigger a $10,000 tax.

Trying to sell a home should not trigger a $10,000 tax.

Vote No on Measure A.

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