Stephanie Nordlinger was never a fan of Prop. 13. When it passed forty years ago, she feared that government services like parks and schools would suffer. Then, in 1988, she became a first-time homeowner.
She bought a modest home in Baldwin Hills for $170,000 -- about $370,000 in today's dollars. Nordlinger thought it was fundamentally wrong that she was paying more in property taxes than richer residents of the city, just because of when she bought.
After Nordlinger got her first property tax bill, she sued on the grounds that Prop. 13 violated the 14th amendment: equal protection under the law.
KPCC, in a state-wide media collaboration, has published a deep dive looking at whether it's fair that homeowners with similar house pay radically different taxes. And, yes, we tell you about what happened to Nordlinger's case as it made it all the way to the Supreme Court. READ OUR SPECIAL REPORT >>
Do you want to know more about Prop. 13 and how it changed the California Dream?
Of course you do.
The California Dream series is a statewide media collaboration of CALmatters, KPBS, KPCC, KQED and Capital Public Radio with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the James Irvine Foundation.
