liver, I disagree on the Prop 13 comment. Property taxes largely go to schools. Since your argument is based on pay-for-use, long time owners don’t generally have school age children (at least not anymore), therefore it’s fair for them to pay less in taxes under prop 13. They use much less public services because they don’t use the schools.
I’m a progressive thinker and think that we should pay taxes regardless of the services we use as a way of contributing to society. BUT since the general mentality is “why should I pay for something that’s of no benefit to me?” then I think that Prop 13 is fair.
Personally, I think there should be some nominal tuition for schools, like $500 to $1000 per year. People should think long and hard before they have kids, rather than pop them out after a marital fight.
