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by CrowFly 3811 days ago
Not quite. There are "parcel taxes" too that keep going up.

And 2%/year increase isn't inconsequential.

2 comments

2%/year is pretty inconsequential.

Consider that the average inflation rate is 3-4%/year[1][2], and houses generally tend to increase in value at roughly the same rate as inflation[3]. Thus, your property taxes are expected to get cheaper in real cost every year, assuming the housing market is relatively stable.

Of course, in SV, the situation is much much worse than this, because housing prices have grown much faster than inflation due to the booming economy.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation#Measures [2] http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation_Rate/Long_Term_... [3] http://observationsandnotes.blogspot.ca/2011/07/housing-pric...

Parcel tax increases are voted on so they aren't just random increases. And I think they need 2/3 to pass.
But parcel taxes are added by popular vote of city/district residents, so they almost always pass.