VOTER GUIDE
BOARD OF EQUALIZATION
What is the Board of Equalization?
The only elected tax commission in the entire country. They meet monthly. Their only real responsibility is to hear and adjudicate property tax appeals, which don’t happen often enough to warrant this office still being around. The salary and benefits of this full-time position total $207,000 per year.
Why You Should Care
You really shouldn’t. This office is like a cocoon for people seeking other obscure statewide positions like Treasurer or Controller. The Legislature and Governor Jerry Brown coordinated to basically gut this office of any real responsibility in 2017 after a series of scandals. Now it’s powerless and should be dissolved.
Our Vision for the Office
This office and body should not exist. The only candidates for Board of Equalization worth endorsing are ones who are willing to eliminate the office and put an end to taxpayer-funded jobs that have no responsibility or accountability.
No endorsement | District 2
Why we’re not endorsing anyone: So, why shouldn’t the Board of Equalization exist? It used to be able to collect a third of the state’s taxes, but now it basically just oversees each of the 58 counties’ Assessor’s offices to ensure they’re doing a good job. Their other function is to adjudicate and hear appeals, but they handle only 20 to 30 of those per year, and the elected board hears only three or four cases, spending most of its time holding obligatory monthly hearings as required by statute. Meanwhile, staff members process the bulk of the appeals.
Because this office was established by a constitutional amendment about 100 years ago, the Board of Equalization can only be dissolved by the California Legislature putting forth a ballot measure and having the voters decide.
It used to be a more powerful entity but was largely stripped of any meaningful power by the Legislature and former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017 after serious allegations of abuse arose regarding former member Jerome Horton, who spent $130,000 on office furniture, used an antisemitic slur in a tax dispute with actor Rob Lowe, and commanded his employees to be on “parking duty” at campaign events.
Paid for by TogetherSF Action. Not authorized by any candidate or a committee controlled by a candidate. Financial disclosures are available at sfethics.org.
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