[gscott]

The rich love to assail Proposition 13 but without it a normal person could not retire in Califronia after working a lifetime in California. The other problems are as you mentioned and are obvious to everyone not in Sacramento.

[jacobolus]

Helping “normal people” retire was cited as the reason to pass Proposition 13, but the biggest beneficiaries (and the initiative was designed with this in mind, to be sure) were corporate property owners, who because they never get old and die, can never have their property taxes raised (well, it can increase 2% per year, generally less than inflation).

[gscott]

Corporations "die" and then sell the property. K-Mart had more value in property then in it's own business. Granted some corporations are getting a good deal, but in another article here they are getting such a bad deal they are leaving. Corporations benefiting may just be a necessary evil.

[quisxt]

Whether or not that is the case, the initiative immediately cut property tax income by 57(?)% and made it much more difficult for the state to raise money by increasing taxes. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but you can't lower taxes without also decreasing spending.

As far as the problem being obvious to "everyone not in Sacramento," clearly you are wrong because here we are, and the voters of California played an active role in bringing us here.

[gscott]

The home value is reset when a house is sold. There has been a lot of buying and selling lately in California.

I have a friend who recently bought a house and his property taxes are like rent, it is just that expensive. He could rent a 1 bedroom apartment with his property taxes.

Money is coming in but as you said, too much money is being spent (through ballot intiatives (high speed rail for example) and the legislature gone-wild. But I believe that the gone-wild days have come to an abrupt end and mostly thanks to Schwarzenegger who has nothing to loose by being rational.

[donaldc]

I have a friend who recently bought a house and his property taxes are like rent, it is just that expensive.

Yes, his property taxes are probably higher than they would be without Proposition 13, because he's subsidizing those around him who have owned their homes for twenty or thirty years, and aren't paying their fair share.

[donaldc]

Unfortunately, Proposition 13 is a lot broader than merely allowing retirees to stay in their homes. The tax breaks can be passed on to children if they take over the house, essentially creating a privileged and heritable class of homeowners. And it also applies to properties owned by companies, which has nothing to do with people being able to stay in their homes.

If property taxes on residences are too high, they should be lowered across the board. Of course, this means that either spending will need to be lowered, or the money will need to be gained through some other form of taxation.