California’s Prop 13 is no stranger to flak, especially whenever the state finds itself out of cash, which is apparently always. The decades-old proposition capped real estate taxes at 1 percent of the property’s cash value, never to go up by more than 2 percent— but they may actually go lower next year for the first time ever. Blame/thank deflation if you must blame/thank anyone, but it’s tough times all around for everyone anyway, isn’t it? That’s never happened in the 31 years since the controversial proposition passed. So the board of equalization has never before had to consider whether rates could be lowered.