[hashouseincali]

So youre for poorly planned cities or gentrification? The value of my property is simply that it is the house in which my family and I live. I gain no benefit from the market increase until I actually sell my house (I suppose there is financial wrangling that could be done but I dont have the money or time for that). Anyone that buys my house or any house in a high value area is going to be paying a higher tax rate simply based on the cost. Prop 13 insulates me from that and encourages/allows me to stay put while still setting the tax rate for all new purchases. I will indeed resist poorly planned additions to my town and will insist on proper infrastructure in place before conceding to any mass buildings. Im not interested in living in an Oakland'esque place with ghost ships everywhere. Ill let you do that elsewhere. Further, you still havent reasonably outlined how getting rid of prop 13 is going to fix things. There are plenty of wealthy people around to pay the taxes assessed on a home purchase ... plus, they can probably afford CPA's to dodge taxes otherwise. Youd be better off trying to fix the socioeconomic disparities so prevalent in our society ... and if you think eliminating prop 13 is going to help toward that end then I got a bridge in Arizona for ya ...

[mdavidn]

Each time you interact with anyone employed in your area, you should ask about their commute. There's a good chance that the staff who care for your children, the staff who stocks your groceries, the staff that cleans your workplace, all have soul-crushing commutes. Your "managed growth" policy forces _them_ to pay for your "small town culture" with their time. That's gentrification, by definition.

[hashouseincali]

What makes you think I don't commute to afford being here? You still haven't addressed how making my property taxes double is going to encourage me to accept poorly planned building ... I'd argue I would be doubly against it. Again, anyone that purchases a house now pays taxes on the market rate. People buy in my town not for jobs but for the culture and location ... If houses get cheaper here the wealthy will just buy two. Now if you said something thoughtful like eliminate prop 13 for anything but primary household you might be onto something but otherwise you're failing to convince me. You might also stress increasing minimum wages such as my town recently enacted. I'm curious if the obvious will happen: business that rely on ultra cheap labor will fold (which I'm ok with) and/or more workers will be attracted from further away (which I'm not ok with). I know Costco and Starbucks already pay a bit above state minimum and a large portion of the service industry folk I patronize are my town neighbors. Why do you have a problem with improving to middle class taste? I definitely prefer my neighbors not living in squalor.