First qustion Aunty, "how big is your land."
Not accusing you of something, just want to make a point. Think about the question and I will come back to it in a moment.
I do this for a living, so I have a real good feel for what is going on out there. First, regarding exeptions- I also have failed to seen anything regarding wealth in relation to exemptions. What I have seen is old ladies living in North Tacoma in 3500 to 4500 sq Ft houses worth half a million or better complaining because they can't pay the property taxes. Yet they sure vote in the levies. I look at it this way, you have an plumber in the 60's who was lucky enough to buy a real good home in a real good area for an affordable price. He stops working at 65 and lives soley on his Social Security because he never saved a dime. Now if his wife is younger than him, they may qualify for the exemption till she dies at 90 which could be as much at 30 plus years. Their grandkids work two jobs to afford a home one third the size, and end up paying twice the property taxes their grandma
does. They vote down the levies in an attempt to make the property taxes livable, but the levies always pass due to the amount of people voting who don't have to pay them (subsidized renters, elderly, etc.) They had to buy a little later in life (at 28 years of age)since everything is so expensive. For the next thirty years they could be forced to live in a house that isn't big enough for them, while grandma cools her hills in a house that they will never, ever, be able to afford, enough though they both work good jobs. Something about the whole thing seems a bit unfair to me. People try to argue that they shouldn't have to pay as much since they have already paid their share and also because they don't have kids in school anymore. Tell this to single people, industrial and commercial property owners, people with vacant land, and people with out children.
Now on the other side of the fence, I asked how big your lot was becuase of a general observation. If you had a large lot, you very likely would be mad that the county took away the ability for you to short plat and make some money you might need for retirement. If you are living on a small lot, what right should you have to dictate that everyone who comes behind you have to have bigger lots then you. If it such a concern perhaps you should have to tear down your house or buy more land to make it comply. It is very easy to dictate that others do or loose what we don't have.
There are people who do own large parcels and want to keep the surrounding enviroment the same, but for the most part this seems to be the minority. I am not for uncontrolled growth, mind you, but I am for fairness in the law. You may want large lots, but in the end what you will get is every large lot developed, whether or not the land is very good for development - no true peices of open space /every parcel of land fenced and posted - and very expensive prices due to the scarcity of land.
I can almost guarantee you, Aunty, that if it wasn't for the growth management act reducing land availablity, you would have very little demand for the land around you. As it is, I have even driven all the wayout there to see what is available, something that was out of the question even 2 years ago.