> you pay taxes on the original purchase price Not exactly. It is more complex than that. The tax base is supposed to be the market value but if the market val

> you pay taxes on the original purchase price Not exactly. It is more complex than that. The tax base is supposed to be the market value but if the market value raises, the tax base is allowed to follow only up to a certain margin. With CA and especially Bay Area prices skyrocketing for a while, the effect has been than the tax base lags very far from the actual market value, and for people who bought in the 80s the tax base may be a fraction of their current market value.