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View Poll Results: Property taxes
Keep property taxes the way they are 65 44.52%
Get rid of property taxes and replace with other taxes 60 41.10%
Other - Please explain 21 14.38%
Voters: 146. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 03-31-2012, 11:26 AM
 
Location: MASSACHUSETTS
744 posts, read 809,089 times
Reputation: 513

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Nothing groundbreaking here but this was on my mind because of another thread I just read so I figured I'd see what other people think.

I understand that as a homeowner you receive public works services, fire etc. but I feel like property tax is the worst tax in the country and should be replaced by other taxes on workers and consumption. Why? Because you pay it no matter whether you are earning an income or not or have any money to spend. It's pretty crummy that you can never actually 'own' your house because of taxes
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Old 03-31-2012, 12:06 PM
 
20,187 posts, read 23,772,276 times
Reputation: 9283
Without property taxes.... people would own property forever and the very wealthy will gobble up even more property to turn a profit... it may seem like its for public services but really its intent is protect everyone from real estate predators...
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Old 03-31-2012, 12:11 PM
 
Location: MASSACHUSETTS
744 posts, read 809,089 times
Reputation: 513
Quote:
Originally Posted by evilnewbie View Post
Without property taxes.... people would own property forever and the very wealthy will gobble up even more property to turn a profit... it may seem like its for public services but really its intent is protect everyone from real estate predators...
That's actually a really good point which I never thought of...However I would think that could be prevented by taxing non-primary residences and maybe start taxing on properties worth 1million+.

I know that in Ireland(I heard on the radio the other day) they don't pay property taxes, they pay a 10% tax when they buy the house though.


Seems like I'm in the minority on this one
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Old 03-31-2012, 12:12 PM
 
Location: Planet Eaarth
8,954 posts, read 20,622,306 times
Reputation: 7193
Quote:
Originally Posted by sturmgeist View Post
Nothing groundbreaking here but this was on my mind because of another thread I just read so I figured I'd see what other people think.

I understand that as a homeowner you receive public works services, fire etc. but I feel like property tax is the worst tax in the country and should be replaced by other taxes on workers and consumption. Why? Because you pay it no matter whether you are earning an income or not or have any money to spend. It's pretty crummy that you can never actually 'own' your house because of taxes
It is impossible to get rid of property tax since it is really "rent" to the state for use of the land you think you own and never will. All land belongs to the state ,and always will, so all that can be done is pay rent (tax) for the use of said land.
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Old 03-31-2012, 12:20 PM
 
Location: Kansas
25,696 posts, read 21,855,107 times
Reputation: 26288
My issue is in the property taxes are not fair. Where we are, the appraisals on property are all over the place and seem to make no sense at all. Not to mention that the AG is investigating our County Treasurer because she was not following the law and has been in office a long time. Kind of became her "personal" business rather than an elected office. The other issues is not with having them but the money not being spent wisely and the inability for the people to understand a budget, the purpose of the budget and that just like the taxpayers, they have to make cuts during this economic downturn. We also have personal property tax yet another pain. It is not so much that something is taxed but that it is taxed fairly and the money not squandered.
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Old 03-31-2012, 01:18 PM
 
Location: Sierra Vista, AZ
17,531 posts, read 24,622,427 times
Reputation: 9975
Increase Property Taxes to cover other areas of necessary public services. Even Health Care, take the onus off the employer and put it on property owners
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Old 03-31-2012, 08:57 PM
 
8,263 posts, read 12,164,491 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sturmgeist View Post
I understand that as a homeowner you receive public works services, fire etc. but I feel like property tax is the worst tax in the country and should be replaced by other taxes on workers and consumption. Why? Because you pay it no matter whether you are earning an income or not or have any money to spend.
But doesn't the person who consumes less or doesn't have an income enjoy the same benefits of fire department, street lighting, local schools etc. as the person next door who has a higher income and consumes more?
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Old 03-31-2012, 09:08 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles area
14,017 posts, read 20,851,119 times
Reputation: 32530
One problem in discussions of property taxes is that they differ so widely in different locations. In California, once you have purchased property, the tax increases are limited to (I believe) 2% per year by Proposition 13. Therefore, we don't get large, nasty surprises about our property taxes in California. So when I think about property taxes, I have a different mental conception than people in certain other states who are getting badly clobbered by them. That is one big problem with the poll. If I vote "Keep property taxes as they are", I am probably thinking of my own property taxes, but if I lived in a different state I might well vote differently.

Beware of states which have either no income tax or no sales tax, because they have to get their money somewhere, and that place might well be a disproportionate reliance on property taxes.
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Old 03-31-2012, 09:29 PM
 
Location: In America's Heartland
929 posts, read 2,087,683 times
Reputation: 1196
I agree with you. Property taxes need to go. Property tax assessments will never be fair. Your primary residence should not be taxed, unless its value is over 500K. Second homes and people who own and rent out multiple homes should be taxed.
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Old 03-31-2012, 09:38 PM
 
Location: US Empire, Pac NW
5,003 posts, read 12,325,767 times
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Instead of levying a consumption tax which would drive up the prices of ordinary goods to a point that it would stifle economic output, I think a more progressive method of taxation is a land value tax, or LVT (Land value tax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

The basic idea is that all land has an inherent value and this value increases with greater human capital and density. Thus, the value of the land itself is what should be taxed, but the improvements (houses, buildings, industry, etc) should not be taxed.

This idea was controversial but adopted by a number of other nations.

So, this idea would also help stifle land speculation and irrational shadow market perception by essentially taxing land only in its inherent use to society. And, since society collectively benefits from land, it would incentivize its utilization.

The drawback to this idea would be that it would probably push development of homes and less dense population centers, as the LVT of low density areas would inherently be less than high density population centers. In my opinion, having more suburbs is not a good idea, for the planet or humanity.

Personally, I think property taxes are fair as they are, but we need to be more accountable to what we spend them on, and I think the voters themselves should determine the ratio of taxes paid on schools, fire, police, parks and recreation, sanitation, and infrastructure maintenance.
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