Devon Zuegel

And it basically froze property tax increases to, I think it's a maximum of 2% a year increase. Okay. And that ends up having a huge number of knock-on effects. One is it has a huge impact on the budget. And so, for example, my parents have owned a home in California since the early 1980s. And since the 1980s, the value of their home has appreciated a huge amount.

And it basically froze property tax increases to, I think it's a maximum of 2% a year increase. Okay. And that ends up having a huge number of knock-on effects. One is it has a huge impact on the budget. And so, for example, my parents have owned a home in California since the early 1980s. And since the 1980s, the value of their home has appreciated a huge amount.

But the property tax that they have to pay does not appreciate too much. And one way that you can think of property tax is that it's something that makes sure that people are making good use of the land. Because if you are in a place that's super, super productive, let's say you're in the heart of Silicon Valley, and it's a place where there's a lot of jobs.

But the property tax that they have to pay does not appreciate too much. And one way that you can think of property tax is that it's something that makes sure that people are making good use of the land. Because if you are in a place that's super, super productive, let's say you're in the heart of Silicon Valley, and it's a place where there's a lot of jobs.

Usually the real estate prices will go up and having a higher property tax that reflects those higher prices is a way to basically send a price signal to people to say, hey, you should be here. You're going to be able to participate in this economy. And I say this descriptively, not normatively. That's just actionably what it does.

Usually the real estate prices will go up and having a higher property tax that reflects those higher prices is a way to basically send a price signal to people to say, hey, you should be here. You're going to be able to participate in this economy. And I say this descriptively, not normatively. That's just actionably what it does.

And when you end up freezing property taxes at a much lower level, you end up deadening that price signal. As a result, I was walking around San Francisco yesterday and there's this empty lot. I looked it up and it's in a very central place, in a place where people are paying thousands of dollars a month for rent for a crummy little apartment.

And when you end up freezing property taxes at a much lower level, you end up deadening that price signal. As a result, I was walking around San Francisco yesterday and there's this empty lot. I looked it up and it's in a very central place, in a place where people are paying thousands of dollars a month for rent for a crummy little apartment.

And then there's this empty lot where people would love to live if only someone would build a building there. And I looked it up and the owner had just owned it for decades. And so their property tax is super low and it doesn't cost them very much to just hold on to it indefinitely. And so you end up having this empty lot in a place that otherwise could house a lot of people.

And then there's this empty lot where people would love to live if only someone would build a building there. And I looked it up and the owner had just owned it for decades. And so their property tax is super low and it doesn't cost them very much to just hold on to it indefinitely. And so you end up having this empty lot in a place that otherwise could house a lot of people.

And so rules like Prop 13 make a huge impact on how people live and how people end up using space.

And so rules like Prop 13 make a huge impact on how people live and how people end up using space.

I joined the Stanford Review, which is a smaller paper on campus and at times somewhat controversial. I joined because when I read it as an incoming freshman, I thought, wow, this is a place where people can really talk about ideas seriously. They can take these ideas seriously, even if there's taboos and things that maybe we're not supposed to talk about.

I joined the Stanford Review, which is a smaller paper on campus and at times somewhat controversial. I joined because when I read it as an incoming freshman, I thought, wow, this is a place where people can really talk about ideas seriously. They can take these ideas seriously, even if there's taboos and things that maybe we're not supposed to talk about.

It's a place where I can actually explore that. And it felt like there was an intellectual freedom and curiosity that I didn't always feel was super common on the Stanford campus. And it wasn't that I agreed with everything in the paper. Actually, there were many things that I strongly disagreed with, but that was kind of the point.

It's a place where I can actually explore that. And it felt like there was an intellectual freedom and curiosity that I didn't always feel was super common on the Stanford campus. And it wasn't that I agreed with everything in the paper. Actually, there were many things that I strongly disagreed with, but that was kind of the point.

I liked that there was a diversity of viewpoints and people who would challenge me and ask hard questions. Whereas I felt like A lot of the rest of the discourse that I found on campus felt much more like one track mind. A lot of things that people would write, I felt like anyone might have written. And I just didn't feel as challenged.

I liked that there was a diversity of viewpoints and people who would challenge me and ask hard questions. Whereas I felt like A lot of the rest of the discourse that I found on campus felt much more like one track mind. A lot of things that people would write, I felt like anyone might have written. And I just didn't feel as challenged.

So I wanted to join the review because I want to seek the truth. And I don't necessarily think that I'm ever going to find the truth. But I think that being around people who will challenge me makes it much more likely that I make some progress on that.

So I wanted to join the review because I want to seek the truth. And I don't necessarily think that I'm ever going to find the truth. But I think that being around people who will challenge me makes it much more likely that I make some progress on that.