Santa Clara County assessor candidate Rishi Kumar is turning heads — and raising eyebrows — with a vow to shield older adults from property taxes. Some people are pushing back on the idea.
After the abrupt resignation of the county’s 30-year former assessor, Larry Stone, a special contest to manage the county’s $700 billion real estate roll is headed for a Dec. 30 runoff between Kumar, a former Saratoga councilmember, and Los Altos Vice Mayor Neysa Fligor — who also serves as an assistant assessor. Kumar faces an uphill battle against Fligor’s commanding lead of 37% of the vote in the Nov. 4 special election. Still, it wasn’t enough to win outright and avoid a runoff.
Now Kumar is betting on a lofty set of campaign promises to take him the extra mile — most notably his proposal to exempt residents age 60 and older from paying taxes on assessed properties. After uproar and cries of illegality from established political circles, Kumar clarified his approach is to advocate for a statewide ballot measure to make the change…