So if you make improvements to your house over the course of a year, and/or the property value in the region goes way up, you could face an unpayable tax bill and lose your house. I don't have much sympathy for renters complaining about gentrification, but property tax laws like this are hot garbage.

Sounds like a great way to import rich people and exploit poor people by capping their level of home value.

Thanks for all that hard work on the house, sorry it's getting repo'd and auctioned. Next time, don't try to make a place to live so high quality!

Property tax should be paid on square footage of the boundaries. Impose a property sales tax with progressive residency penalties or some other extractive mechanism, but have the common decency to let people invest in and improve their own homes.