No, increases in California’s revenues don’t just come from GDP growth. In California, property taxes have always been a significant contributor to state and municipal revenues. It became a much smaller component after the passage of Prop 13.
…
In 1977-78, the last fiscal year before the imposition of
Proposition 13, nearly 28 percent of state and local
general revenue generated in the state came from
property taxation. California’s property tax reliance was 26 percent greater than the reliance exhibited in
all states in 1977-78.
1
By 2005-06, the most recent fiscal year for which data is available, California’s
reliance on property taxation as a source of state and
local general revenue had fallen to less than 13
percent. This was 24 percent below the property tax
reliance occurring throughout the rest of the United
States in 2005-06.
Again, just adding to the population does not mean that productivity is growing, per capita, and it doesn’t mean that the new growth is self-sustaining (not taking more in govt services/infrastructure than what they contribute in taxes).
