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?