Matt Mahan

The reason Prop 13 was passed was property tax increases were happening so fast that people were literally getting pushed out of their homes because they couldn't keep pace with the rising costs.

So it doesn't freeze it, but it caps it at a 1.5% increase per year, which you could argue is too low, maybe to properly...

have a more functioning market, it should be higher, right?

That's a debate you could have.

I think there are some pragmatic things that could be politically feasible.

One is we should enable older residents to take their property tax benefit with them if they downsize so that we can free up that housing stock.

So if you're an older couple or you're living alone and you've got four bedrooms in a

If we could incentivize you to capture that benefit and continue to have low property taxes by moving into a condo by the beach, great.

We should allow for that flexibility and fluidity in the market.

Another thing that could be done is you could say, well, having property taxes go up more than 1.5% per year could price people out.

But what if some of that actually accrued over time and then was assessed at the time that you sold the home?

And so that way, you're not getting hit each year with a larger and larger property tax bill that you can't afford when you're raising kids or whatever else you're doing.

But when you eventually sell the house,

Presumably, the House has appreciated.

That's why your property taxes are going up.

That thing gets paid back in.

But I would also just note, I think Prop 13 reform is about fairness and distortions in the market.

I think it's a mistake for Democrats to make it a big revenue generator because the truth is, while it did reduce revenues to the state and to school districts, after it passed, we went and found...

a bunch of other sources of revenue.

We created an income tax.