> But California’s political system is making it hard to respond to these pressures. Thanks to a 1978 ballot initiative called Proposition 13, California cities

> But California’s political system is making it hard to respond to these pressures. Thanks to a 1978 ballot initiative called Proposition 13, California cities have stringent limits on raising revenue from local property taxes. That forces the state to provide many services, financing them with hefty income taxes. Those are inherently more unreliable than property taxes, since wealthy taxpayers can move away (while property can’t move), and since California’s income taxes fluctuate a lot because they depend so much on the profits residents earn on volatile stock prices. Prop 13 is widely cited as one of California's biggest weaknesses. I suspect the state will be looking quite closely at other ways to tax property, given that property taxes are relatively easy to assess and enforce, and depending on your economic situation, have a built-in progressive quality to them. What restrictions does the state have around imposing taxes on real estate sales? For example, could the state impose a 1% tax on profits from the sale of a private residence under $50,000? I know this would put the state at odds with the federal government, but could it be a way around Prop 13?