Phil, who voted against Prop. 13, has lived in the same house in Calif. since 1962. I wager he has saved in the 30 years since its passage almost half a million in taxes--in 2008 dollars.

Figure it this way: If Prop. 13 had never passed, and his half million dollar home were assessed as it was in 1976, he'd be paying a cool $15,000 a year in prop. taxes. As it is, he's actually paying about $1,000 a year. This is because Prop. 13 froze assessments to 1976 levels, with allowable maximum increases of 2%/year, and cut the property tax rate by two thirds (from 3% to 1%). Phil's house was probably only worth about $50,000 in 1976, and today would be on the rolls at less than $100,000. In effect, Phil is paying one fifteenth the property tax he would have been paying absent Prop. 13.

Of course, it is fair to say that Prop. 13 has contributed to soaring prices in California for this very reason--and also because it has diminished the supply of second hand homes because it made housing so affordable for those who got grandfathered in. The true savings in property taxes was probably only about a quarter million. But Phil has benefited from a huge unrealized capital gain, which, thanks to the 1997 revision in the law, he could actually pocket.

Re: 64% Of The Voters: What Were They Thinking?

Answer: screw the 36%. I'll get mine, Jack, and send my kids to private school with my tax savings.

It worked for 30 years...until California started sliding into the Pacific Ocean...