8/25 Is property tax painful because the housing price / rent ratio is
so out of whack? It's like, for the property tax one is paying,
one may as well go rent.
\_ If you are not taking property tax into account when buying a
house, you don't deserve to own.
\_ Yes, which is why Prop 13 is so valuable. If you take it
into account and then 3 years later it rises 50% because
the market goes nuts you can be screwed. It is not a good
solution to sell or to take out a loan to pay for the tax,
in spite of what Tom says. Prop 13 actually allows one to
budget because it limits the rise of property tax to a
reasonable level (1%/year).
known level (1%/year).
\_ do you think artificially low property tax has artificially
jacked up real estate prices?
\_ Heh, that's pretty funny. "artificially low property
tax". You do know that all taxes are arbitrary, right?
-emarkp
\_ Well, if property tax is raised then prices will
fall, sure. Does that sound like a good idea to you?
Transfer more wealth from the people to the
government, right? It's here to help us.
\_ Not to mention that if the rate rises and the
values then fall the government still collects
the same amount of $$$ except the homeowner is
assed out of his equity.
\_ How about a scheme that keeps track of additional property
tax owed and then charging the seller that amount when the
property is sold?
\_ too fucking complicated.
\_ What do you call the IRS? |