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Comment by yonran | Hacker News Reader

The split roll initiative likely exempts many parking lots from reassessment at least until June 2025 since they can count as “small business” (fewer than 50 employees) (https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/19-0008%20%...)

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Possibly yes. One catch might be that they are contractors so if the parking company has 50 overal it might not count. They’ll have to split up or something. Or litigate for a while. But either way it’ll sort itself out in a few years.

That's so stupid. I've never met a real estate concern that had ANY employees. The fact that a building is owned by 1 guy who outsources everything does not make it a "small business".

How do you define small business such that it excludes a one-person renting a house/apartment operation?

All residential property is already exempt from the split roll initiative (unfortunately), so residential landlords don’t need to claim the small business exemption. As for nonresidential property, if the split roll initiative passes, every single commercial landowner will want to classify themselves as a small business to get the exemption from reappraisal (unfortunately), so I imagine that this will be fairly contentious. As the initiative is written, a small business must (1) occupy the property, (3)(A) employ <50 employees, (B) be managed independently, and (C) own some real estate in California (but not necessarily the property in question?!)

> and (C) own some real estate in California (but not necessarily the property in question?!)

I think that's a protection against the business owning a Trust that owns the land. It's to force the business to own the land directly.

Why should it? What’s special about that case?

I don’t know; I think it is a small business. Ask @jumpingmice.

Revenue

Most landlords are taking in (far) less than a $30MM in gross receipts per year though, right?

(That’s the SBA cutoff for “small business” in property renting; NAIC business codes 5311x0.)

https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2019-08/SBA%20Table%...

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