I’m reading Zoning Rules! by William A. Fischel. He’s rather clever. One point he makes is that in the old days wealthy homeowners could easily relocate to avoid a property tax increase. With zoning, they will likely have to sell at a loss to compensate for higher property taxes. That is, if they can find another rich person who wants to buy their home in a high-tax district. In the old days, they could sell it to poor folks who would split it up and share it.