To elaborate ... MA is the the original home of direct democracy. Towns in the state hold annual town meetings, with a committee of the whole coming together to

To elaborate ... MA is the the original home of direct democracy. Towns in the state hold annual town meetings, with a committee of the whole coming together to vote on key issues. In addition, they have a fair number of ballot referenda, but not as many as CA. MA has its own "Prop 2 1/2" which caps real estate taxes at 2.5% of assessed value, and limits annual increases in the total assessment to 2.5%. Quite literally, the cities and towns are continuously re-assessing their property base, and literally re-set the tax rate on an annual basis to deliver the revenue that they need to run the town. Thus, you see Cambridge's rate plunging by 25% year over year, presumably as property values on high-dollar properties have boomed. This gives lie to the idea that politicians would just take the increased taxes from higher property values as a windfall. In actuality, the tax burden is redistributed as real estate wealth is created.