[refurb]

Repeal it for everything.

Just do what Texas does and allow deferred property tax payments for when the owner dies or sells.

Why should we be giving tax breaks to people who have seen incredible appreciation of their homes. Those are the last people who should be getting tax breaks.

[cameldrv]

This. The original stated intent of Prop 13 was people not being able to afford to stay in their homes due to rising property taxes. OK fine, but when you sell your house for $2 million, you most definitely can afford it, and you should pay up, with interest.

[vonmoltke]

Texas also has a value increase cap for owner-occupied residences, though not as generous (10% per assessment, since the state uses three-year assessment periods).

> Why should we be giving tax breaks to people who have seen incredible appreciation of their homes. Those are the last people who should be getting tax breaks.

It's about not forcing people to move because he area they live in appreciates suddenly. Basically, the same argument as rent control. That an owner gets to cash out some value is cold comfort when their life is uprooted against their will.

[refurb]

It’s a common method in Canada as well.

The end result is, if the owner chooses, they can continue paying the same property rate until they die or sell. The govt eventually collects the full tax from the equity of the house (or estate).

You solve the issue of people being forced from their homes while at the same time being more equitable in terms of tax burden.

[LorenPechtel]

This is what I've been saying for years. I didn't know anyone had implemented it.....looks like they have an 8% interest rate, that's crazy high for the situation.

[cameldrv]

There's a product called a reverse mortgage that accomplishes the same thing. Having the government offer this instead of foreclosure nullifies the "I lost my house because of high property taxes" argument, but there's no need for the interest rate to be especially competitive. If you can get a better deal on the private market, go get it.

[duelingjello]

Maybe your parents didn’t teach you empathy when you were growing up, as is so prevalent these days. There are millions of retired people on fixed incomes who bought their homes when they were normally priced. For example, my grandparents bought a house in Los Gatos for $30k in 1969 and now it’s priced at $1.4M. Is that their fault? Why should elderly people, who cannot take the stress of being uprooted and moving, be forced to sell their homes and lose their balance sheet savings in the process? If anything, discounts on capital gains and property taxes should be based on both income and balance sheet apart from real estate ownership. What if that were you?

[refurb]

Who said anything about uprooting?

In your grandparents case, they could freeze their property taxes, but when the houses switches ownership, they’d need to pay all the back taxes they avoided with the cap.

Why shouldn’t your grandparents have to pay current property taxes? They just had a windfall increase in property value.

[asdff]

If that were me I'd be smiling ear to ear paying 30k taxes on 1.4 million dollars. That's like the deal of a life time. You can't even find a 30k home in cleveland.