Just to clarify further: In 1978, Californians voted a radical roll-back in property taxes when they enacted Prop 13. This proposition also stipulated that eve

Just to clarify further: In 1978, Californians voted a radical roll-back in property taxes when they enacted Prop 13. This proposition also stipulated that every person owing real property got a baseline valuation (either its fair market value in 1978, when Prop 13 took effect, or its fair market value on the date of any transfer upon its sale), from which the tax could only increase at a maximum of 2% per year. Thus, companies like HP, which owned vast tracts of valuable property in prime areas, have reaped huge benefits from this cap because they are effectively paying property taxes on values from a different era altogether. Young couples who bought small condos within the past 5 years are also paying far more in property tax than upper middle class persons living in fancy suburbs (those who have held their homes since 1978). Yet, in spite of the obvious inequities that have resulted, voters won't even touch any attempts to repeal Prop 13 or even to enact special propositions that would put commercial property owners on a separate, higher-taxed path. The reasons, I think, are those I set forth in my comment above - they don't trust what public officials will do with an expanded taxing power.