If you think of the government as the &quot;ultimate landlord&quot;, then property tax is just another form of rent and Prop 13 is just another form of rent <i>control</i>. It has most of the same positives and negatives as rent control:<p>&gt; forces an incentive not to move<p>Check, if you move your property tax will go up<p>&gt; and owner&#x27;s have little incentive to bring up to standard something they are not going to get an ROI on<p>Check, the &quot;landlord&quot; (government) spending on residential infrastructure won&#x27;t result in increased property tax income. This is partly why the peninsula cities invest so much in office space but refuse to build housing.<p>You&#x27;re right that Prop 13 makes rent control possible, but overall I&#x27;m not sure that&#x27;s a good thing.