A Boring Dystopia

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‘My Property Tax Went From $15K to a Life-Altering $91K a Year’ (www.yahoo.com)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Tax the sales of property.

I'm thinking of the untended consequences of that policy. The first I can think of is people simply would never sell their houses because they'd get hit with enormous taxes (large enough to equal decades of property taxes). Home owners would simply rent out the houses when they need/want to move away. So home ownership for those living in the homes would collapse. Further, city services would likely starve from lack of funding because there would be no little revenue and what revenue they got would be very sporadic.

but you should be able to have a house to live in without paying the state for the privilege of them not taking it.

There are absolutely houses like that (in the USA at least). Those houses not in cities with police and fire protection, roads, sidewalks, snow plowing, public libraries, or any other kind of city services. If you want the benefits of a society someone has to pay the bill. Alternatively, some cities have income taxes or very high sales tax. Both of which you'd pay to live in the city.

Who are you suggesting paying the bill for your consumption of city services besides you?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago

I still think citizens should pay the bill for their services, but tax should be on the basis of income, and wealthier people should pay more to cover for those who can't. And why not income, the money you actually bring in, and not a portion the money your home would theoretically sell for if you sold it? The point at which to take tax is the point of transfer, whether it's labor for a wage or a change of ownership (sales and inheritance).

I absolutely don't believe that people would be less likely to sell their property because they might have to pay a percentage of the profits from the sale. And if they were less likely to sell it, who cares? Take the money from the excess houses when they die. I think I also mentioned that I'm not principally against taxes on non-resident property (which is essentially abandoned or a business asset if not owner occupied). I'm also not against rent controls.

Like God forbid one recognize that certain approaches to taxation are problematic, it must mean you're a conservative who's against government services.