Though there are some factors to balance. People buying million dollar homes do expect more from the local government -- and might even be willing and able to pay more -- but I agree it's not truly in ratio to the appreciation. Prop 13 was driven by the people who found they had $400,000 homes they had paid $40,000 for who quite reasonably did not want to be saddled with 10 times the tax bill. Saddling it all on people who move or inherit was the wrong answer, though. And yes, there should be an independent cap on the local government revenues, perhaps to follow some COLA-plus/portion of real estate values rule by default, with adjustment by voters when needed, and that revenue should be divided evenly based on the value of property serviced and protected.

There are arguments for and against the existence of property tax. On the one hand, to the extent that it pays for protection of property against fire, crime and the like it makes sense to pay according to how much property one has. Paying for education, we've decided, will not be based on how many children one has, so it could be based on anything -- property, income, you name it.