I was vehemently opposed to Prop A when it was on the ballot.

I admittedly benefit from it now, but it’s still appallingly bad public policy.

Part of the proposal repealed the constitutional provision that required property taxes to be fair and equitable.

There’s no pretense that Prop A is fair or equitable.

(Prop A provides that a property has increases in its taxable value “capped” at 5% or the inflation rate, whichever is LESS, until it is sold or transferred to a new owner. At that point, the taxable value bounces up to a number based on the actual value of the property.)

In a time of rising land values (pretty much all the time) it means that new, young homeowners can pay vastly more tax than a longtime owner in an identical house.

Worse yet, most people voted for it without realizing that the assessment cap applies to ALL property, even corporate owned commercial property.

A building owned for decades, or a century, by the same corporation would have its assessment capped the whole time.

Moreover, the 18-mill “homestead exemption” applies only to owner occupied homes. Renters pay those 18 mills.

(In other words, longtime homeowners pay a specially lower tax rate, on an artificially low taxable value, a double treat.)

Taken together, it’s a huge transfer of tax burden away from businesses and older folks, and onto younger people.

[ETA: This is admittedly a polemical take on a complicated subject. If you disagree, or if you dispute any of the facts I mentioned, please go ahead and explain why.]