[refurb]

What’s really unfair is someone whose home goes from $100k to $2M, for a total capital gain of $1.9M gets a 90% discount on their property taxes.

The people with the greatest ability to pay are the ones getting the biggest tax break.

[jjav]

> The people with the greatest ability to pay are the ones getting the biggest tax break.

They don't necessarily have any ability to pay, which is the scenario that brought prop13 to life in the first place (low-income grandma kicked to the street by taxes).

Someone of modest income who bought a modest 100K house years ago isn't cash-flow rich today just because the paper value of their house went up. They are probably retired living on a small social security check and don't have much any ability to pay, let alone the "greatest ability".

It's fine to have different views on how society should handle this tricky scenario, but let's be intellectually honest with the core facts.

[lambdaops]

There are property tax postponement programs in California for that person and honestly, they should be downsizing: https://sco.ca.gov/ardtax_prop_tax_postponement.html

Also, I think low-income grandma was and always has been a useful narrative piece. Howard Jarvis, the author of prop13, was literally a lobbyist for apartments and businesses. Please watch The First Angry Man when you get a chance: https://www.kcet.org/shows/the-first-angry-man/episodes/the-...

[jjav]

> they should be downsizing

Often the house isn't much to downsize from. If they bought a modest house for 100K back then, it's probably not big.

I bought my current house in my 20s. It is tiny because it was all I could afford back then. I always expected to move up, but it hasn't happened. So I've made my life on this street, these parks and forests. I could afford to move up now but it's a nice area and it has become home. I'm not ready to retire but when I do, there's no point in downsizing, it's already tiny.

Also don't underestimate the pain of moving for an older person. I often wish my >90yr mother would move closer to here but at that age she is terrified having to change any of her regular doctors and neighbors.

The grandma may be an "useful narrative piece" and it was, but it is also very real. These are the people who benefit the most from being able to stay in their home to the end. It is very cruel to force an older person to move from their comfort zone.

Of course, corporations taking advantage of prop13 is a travesty. It should be for individuals in their own home only.

[seiferteric]

The part that doesn't make sense to me is that if your property value 20x's, your value from tax does not go up by 20x, so why is property tax linked to the market value of the property anyway?

[mehrdadn]

Yes, as I mentioned, there are indeed two sides to the argument.