> Prop 13 ensures that property values -and thus the taxes > due on that property- are only reassessed when a property > changes hands. If you've held on to a property since Prop > 13's passage, your property taxes have not increased in > 37 years.

This is an often-repeated myth, but that is not how prop 13 works.

Property taxes do increase every year. What prop 13 does is that it sets the yearly increase to 2%. This makes the increases predictable so one can budget for it, but it certainly increases every year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_13_%281...

(I bought a house in 1997. During the dot.com boom, the market value far exceeded the assessed value. Later when housing crashed, the market value dipped below the assessed value. In the current boom market value has again gone above the assessed value. I expect in the next crash values may reverse again. So all prop 13 does is that it damps the increases to prevent wild swings year to year.)