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Comment by almost_usual | Hacker News Reader

I honestly think it has less to do with money than the younger HN community realizes. Older people don't like change, especially significant changes like moving. Most of the people who have been here for decades stay because it's their home and they have no where else to go. Getting rid of Prop 13 and raising taxes to tech market rate is the equivalent of deporting someone from their home.

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Why are we bending over backwards to appease them though. Renters have to leave their residences all the time due to rental increases, often after being financially stressed to a limit. The home owners could at least take out credit against their property to pay for the taxes if they don't want to move. In fact I think that's a good thing! A large number of California home owners all needing large lines of credit backed by highly valued properties could devalue the properties or cause a crash.

> Getting rid of Prop 13 and raising taxes to tech market rate is the equivalent of deporting someone from their home.

The correct solution to address both the problem of growing property taxes (due to growing land values) and the housing shortage is to zone the lots to encourage growth, as promoted by Strong Towns (https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/6/12/the-power-of-g...), not to give a special tax break to long-time homeowners at the expense of renters and new homeowners. This would enable homeowners to pay the higher taxes without being displaced as well as serve more households.

non-primary residences as well as commercial properties are also covered by it. It's about wealth, not about keeping someone in their home.

I can get on board with amending non-primary residences and commercial properties.

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