Prop 13 keeps California's property tax revenues stable. This is especially true/important when property values crash, as they do every 10 years or so. (It's

Prop 13 keeps California's property tax revenues stable. This is especially true/important when property values crash, as they do every 10 years or so. (It's starting now as people start to realize that mortgages are going up from 5%, not down.) Why? Because all of the people who bought more than a couple of years ago will see their regular 2% increase because the crash didn't hit their property's value. Meanwhile, newer homeowners will go to the assessor and get a reduction in value, which reduces their taxes. The former outweighs the latter.