**In the rolling hills of Marin County a couple in their late sixties sits at their kitchen table surrounded by decades of memories. Their home bought for less than two hundred thousand dollars in the 1970s now appraises for over three million. On paper they are wealthy beyond their wildest youthful dreams. Yet the prospect of selling fills them with dread not excitement. California property taxes have remained manageable for them over the years but moving would trigger a cascade of financial consequences that could erase much of that paper wealth.**
The couple like thousands of others across the Bay Area finds themselves rich in theory but trapped in practice. What began as the fulfillment of the American dream has become a gilded cage. As home values climbed into the stratosphere the tax code and housing economics conspired to keep families frozen in place.
**The Paradox Of Wealth On Paper**…