States forced by courts to tie assessed values to market values created uncertainty about property tax bills and we show that under rational expectations this uncertainty produces voter support for tax limits on benevolent government. We estimate that moving to market reassessment before the 1970s property tax revolt increased the likelihood of enacting a tax limit by 30 percent. Our theoretical and empirical results demonstrate that voters supporting tax limits on benevolent governments in an effort to reduce tax payment uncertainty is consistent with the evidence and thereby refute the notion that tax limits are inconsistent with benevolent local government.