San Diego will never forget the January 22 floods — when the clock rolled back on a lot of lives. Neighborhoods south and east of downtown were decimated by overrun stormwater drains and broken infrastructure.
That night, I visited churches, apartments and homes across San Diego to assess damage and see the needs. Days after the floods, I continued the surveying process and also led my organization to step up where we could to provide some direct resources and basic necessities.
One thing made clear by several residents was that more needs to be done by city, county and government officials as a whole. Residents and property owners alike asked me if taxes could be deferred, which led me to establish a proposal for a county ordinance to defer the property tax deadline.
I immediately called my friend San Diego County Assessor Jordan Marks and asked him to come on a tour with me to assess damage and talk with property owners.
My organization issued the official request on Jan. 25 to the county assessor and the governor requesting a deferral of property taxes in San Diego County and announced it alongside several residents.
My proposal was to defer both property taxes at the county level and personal income taxes at the state and federal levels.
The IRS recently announced the personal income tax deadline extension has been granted. Residents that are homeowners and impacted individuals asked me to establish this proposal and I understood their concerns of tax deadlines being around the corner while they were trying to pick the pieces up from what they lost.
I knew it was unrealistic for any of these people to have to worry about tax deadlines hanging over their heads immediately after experiencing drastic life changes caused by the storms.
I have heard from people in passing who disagree with my proposal. They made comments like: “These people have time before the current tax deadlines” and “We don’t need to move the tax deadlines for this small group of people.”
I also have heard things like “This will take much needed revenue from the county and state.”
I want to address some of these remarks. If you are going to say that these people have time to get their taxes done and rebuild at the same time, then you need to take a drive and go see the deplorable conditions they are living in and what they’ve lost.
Many of these residents who lost homes are avid taxpayers, but the damage is so tremendous that it will take beyond three months or even six months to touch the surface of rebuilding.
The notion that this is a “small group” of residents is not only a false pretense but is egregious. We are all neighbors and when one community is affected, all of our communities are affected.
The mayor often uses the phrase “For All of Us,” and to me our city and government need to live up to that motto a little better by focusing on supporting our neighbors and not on what we will be losing if we do so.
The people of more affluent communities would be asking for tax deferrals too. Many reports say that over 1,000 families are estimated to have been displaced by these floods. That doesn’t sound small to me.
The economic hit that the county and state will take from taxes being deferred is the only thing that sounds small to me. I am thankful that the county assessor heard my call and that county supervisors voted to support my proposal to establish a county ordinance to defer the April 10 property tax delinquent deadline for property owners affected by this tragedy so that they can focus more on repairing, restoring and rebuilding their lives.
The supervisors will cast a final vote on this ordinance Tuesday, March 12, and I call on every neighbor to support it. This is not a burden on anyone but the residents who lost everything. Deferring taxes is the least we can do.
Shane Harris is the president of the People’s Association of Justice Advocates.
