Oh really? Then Santa Clara county owes me a bunch of money. (And no, this isn't a "my house lost value" issue. My property taxes went up last year, just like they did the year before, and the year before that.)
CA does have "non recourse" purchase mortgages. That means that the bank that loaned you the money that you use to buy a house can't come after you after foreclosure if they can't recover what you owe.
Note that I wrote "the money that you use to buy" - if you refinance, that bank can come after you for any money that they can't recover in foreclosure.
Right under the line that says "1% Maximum Tax Levy" in the "Taxing Agency Tax Rate" table, tha bill lists the percentages for several additional levies. The subtotal labelled "Tot Assessed Val Rate" is more than 1% and there are additional percentages below that, which aren't included in said "Tot". And then there are several other "Special Assessments" which are listed by dollar figure, not percentage.
In the "Tax Rate Per $100" column, it has both the >1% "Tot Assessed Val Rate" figure and the total of the percentages listed below it in the "Agency/Rate" table mentioned above. Both numbers are multiplied by corresponding numbers in the "Assessed Value" column. The total of the special assessments in dollars is added to those products.
I'm paying more than 1%. They may not call the amounts over 1% "property tax", but Santa Clara County is collecting them on the "Secured Property Tax Bill", just like the amount that they call property tax.
In the section