Originally Posted by
rickair7777
The problem with that (and the reason for prop 13) was that working class and/or retired people bought a modest house decades ago for a modest price. Insane real estate appreciation sends their paper value through the roof, and their tax follows along with it... there were older people who had paid off their homes who were literally forced out because their annul tax bill was 5-10 times what their original mortgage payment was.
Gov was happy to seize their home and sell it, leaving them with the remaining proceeds to rent a double-wide in Bakersfield or Little Rock. Got to get those damn old people the hell out of up-and-coming neighborhoods to make room for trendy DINK yuppies... it's all about the tax base! Income, property, sales, school, road, gas, etc, etc
Cool story, but what actually happens is this.
People get grandfathered in with their cost basis for property tax and then proceed to vote for every increase in government spending under the sun. They don’t have to pay for it so why not?
Decades later those who were not lucky enough to inherit a home can’t afford anything and there is a mass exodus out of California.
Locking the property tax cost basis of your home in at purchase is one of those things that sounds like a good idea but has multiple negative un-intended consequences.