Anyone old enough to have lived through the mayhem and economic decline of the 1970s probably will recall the tax cut heard round the world. That was the famous California ballot initiative Proposition 13, which slashed property taxes by more than 25% and then screwed a tight cap on future rate increases.

This was the tax cut that saved California, helping ignite the go-go days of Silicon Valley and build what are now trillion-dollar companies. This was also the dawn of the Reagan era of lower tax rates, the conquering of runaway inflation, and skepticism of big government at the state and local level.

Once Prop 13 passed in California, a dozen more states slashed out-of-control property tax levies that were driving older Americans out of their homes. Selling the house to pay the taxes w

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