The state as a whole has the ability to raise perfectly reasonable amounts of cash, and is currently doing so. So... 1) If it's not being distributed between

The state as a whole has the ability to raise perfectly reasonable amounts of cash, and is currently doing so. So... 1) If it's not being distributed between the levels in an efficient or fair manner, that seems like a pretty simple fix. There are already mechanisms for intergovernmental transfers from state to city governments; does California need to increase their transfers a bit? 2) California is already a pretty high-tax state. Shifting the burden from income taxes (that flow largely to the state) to property taxes (that flow to cities) might be good, but will simply uncapping the ability of cities to raise money do this? In short, I think it's a mistake to conflate concerns about "how much tax can California raise" with "is the money flowing to the right level". Keep in mind, for the US as a whole, the largest source of revenue for local governments (over 1/3) is intergovernmental transfers, overwhelmingly (88%) from state government (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-are-sources-revenue-local-governments https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-are-sourc...). There is no expectation that cities can fund their operations purely from property taxes, and this isn't how cities work in the US in any state. All cities rely on transfers from the state government, and the California state government is raising a lot of cash. If it's failing to transfer it to cities the way it should (which remains to be demonstrated!), this has nothing to do with Prop 13.