Why Prop 15 ran so unconvincingly

Sounded good, didn't it? Loads more money for public education. And all we had to do was say that commercial real estate should be subject to a property tax based upon current value, not the value assessed at time of purchase. After all, assessing land values at current market rate is expressive of and harmonious with The Free Market. You'd think Republicans and Conservatives would champion the free market in order to produce market use of "location, location, location." And you'd think every anti-capitalist would endorse socializing much more of the value of Nature.

Yeah, you'd think. But loads of these constituencies have a dream of one day owning their own little patch of land. Or they already own that patch and they agree with William Greider that they should personally economically benefit from its ownership.

Attend a one-hour introduction to the dynamics of land value taxation, and why attempts such as Prop 15 to reform property tax law using inconsistent ethics are preponderantly doomed to failure.