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The problem there is that the cost of the services paid for by the taxes keeps rising. I agree that retirees should see a freeze but I disagree that tax rates should freeze forever based on the purchase price.
I bought my first home in my twenties. Within ten years my earnings had doubled and ten years later doubled again. That is the case with most of us. Had my RE tax remained the same throughout then my newer neighbors would have been subsidizing me.
I disagree. The cost of government will continue to grow as long as they have a ready source of income. One of the side goals of Prop 13 was to cut the funds from governements. It has not worked out as well as we could hope, but it has slowed them down.
The road in front of my home has not been improved since I moved in. I have never had to call the police or fire. I have no children in public schools, and I pay extra for trash pick up and water. I am not a burden on my local government.
I live in a small town in Central California. The population has almost doubled since I moved here. New homes (and there are a lot of them) go for 400-500 thousand dollars. Aside from that, new business have been created along the freeway that is within city limites, the city gets a share of the sales tax from these businesses.
The local government is not hurting because I only pay taxes based on the price I paid for my home twenty years ago.
On your next point, it does me no good that you had a career that went as well as yours did. I am happy that you were able to earn as much money as you could. Please feel free to donate as much extra money to the government as you wish. But your good fortune does not translate into money into my pocket.
I overcame some high hurdles to enable me to learn a skill that would pay me a modest wage. My abilities, knowledge, and opportunities were never such that I could hope to duplicate your success. That fact does not mean I should lose everything I have worked for just so the local governement can have more of my money.
No sir, fair is taxing the property for what an individual could pay at the time, not on the possibility that they may at some future date be wealthy.