CT is notoriously high-tax, but some states have a staircase system. By this I mean, that when a house changes hands, the property tax is reset, to a new and higher level. While the house is continuously owned, tax increases are capped.
Consider Smith's former neighbor, Grandma Doe. Mrs. Doe bought her house in Los Angeles in 1993, during a nadir in the market, as the aerospace-defense industry was collapsing and property values followed. She scored a nice but unassuming bungalow in a dodgy neighborhood for $100K, locking-in her property tax for the next 30 years. She passed away in 2023. Rufus Robertson bought her house, for $1.2M (the neighborhood gentrified). Poor Rufus saw the property tax jump 5X, literally overnight.