Because they had purchased the Palo Alto house for little more than $1 million in 1995, what’s known as the base year value had risen to just $1.7 million, a huge figure in most real estate markets, but relatively modest on the Peninsula. They paid less than $20,000 a year in property taxes. The state law, Prop. 90, allows people who move from one of a few participating counties to another to keep their old property tax as long as their new home is of equal or lesser value than their old residence.

But based on an assessment of their Palo Alto home, the Shulmans’ request was denied. Their property taxes rose to around $80,000, more than most Americans make in a yea