Laguna Beach Property Tax Rate Among Lowest in State thanks to Prop. 13

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — Residents in Laguna Beach pay some of the lowest property tax rates in the state, according to a recent study by Trulia.

People living further inland, however, aren't as lucky. They pay a higher property tax rate, according to the study released Wednesday. The reason has to do with Proposition 13, which was passed by voters in 1978.

The anti-tax measure caps property tax at 1 percent of the home's value at the time of purchase and limits property tax hikes to 2 percent a year. The tax assessment resets only when the home is sold. So, the longer people live in their homes, the more money they save in property taxes.

This is the reason why Laguna Beach residents have a lower effective tax rate than their inland neighbors. According to the study, coastal residents tend to stay in their homes longer than those further inland.

“There is a geographic disparity in who benefits from Prop. 13,” the study said. “Residents in expensive coastal cities pay noticeably lower tax rates than residents in cheaper inland cities.”

Laguna Beach residents pay an effective tax rate of 0.52 percent, the eighth lowest in the state. How is that possible?

Say a home was bought for $100,000, the property tax for the first year would be $1,000 (or 1 percent of the home's value). In the second year, if the home's value increased to $150,000, under Prop. 13, the property tax can only increase 2 percent, meaning the home is assessed at $102,000, instead of its true market value. The homeowner would pay only $1,020, instead of $1,500, making it an effective tax rate of 0.68 percent.

If California homeowners pay taxes on their homes' true values, instead of the Prop. 13 assessed values, the state would receive an additional $12.5 billion in revenue just in 2015 alone, according to the study.

Trulia, a real estate website, used tax records, census data and its own property-value estimate data to determine the effective tax rate for the study.

With Alexander Nguyen, Photo via Shutterstock