My question is what happened in Montana? Did they suddenly look at California and say give me some of that insanity?
I live in Kentucky and bought my house and 5 acres of land in the mountains over 20 yrs ago for $130,000. I have a 3400 sq ft house counting the garage. I paid in the $800-$900 range property taxes for many years. Then about six years ago the county school board installed a new superintendent and they passed a recallable nickel property tax to redo the football field with Astroturf and a few other things. The new superintendent and board assured everyone that their taxes would go up max, $50-$100. The nickel tax kept increasing. Now I am up to $1500 a year in taxes. Thank God that crazy bitch superintendent picked a fight with a cities school system in the county resulting in her getting fired or I would be paying $3000 a year!
That being said, I have no fire department services and if I call the sheriff their response averages between 30-45 minutes or longer. The only service I get is my road scrapped, 2-3 days into a big snow.
My brother lives in Knox County Tennessee and his house is around 2000 sq ft and appraises for $350,000. He gets full service, fire, police etc... and he pays less than I do on property taxes.
I lived much of my life in rural areas. One state taxed you on your vehicle value, so I drove a few beaters. Maybe $600 a year for me and my wife.