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Know someone who has a house in Calgary, Alberta. It's valued at a little over $400,000. She pays $35,000 a year in property taxes. Can't even imagine. Particularly since (if she didn't like her neighbor) she could spit from her kitchen window into her neighbors' kitchen window, they're that close. Crazy.
I have that beat. $300,000 is about the value of my yacht. The only US expense is $25 per year for my coast guard paperwork.
It sleeps 12, 2 bath, it has 360 degree water views, and I can take it around the world.
but what are your real costs? surely you dock somewhere and have to pay personal property tax on it... don't you? any boat I have ever owned has been a hole in the water that I throw money into...
The "ignorance" is your post since you don't want to get the concept of my post.
What concept? You apparently suffer from class envy, and have no compunction about stealing money from others in order to have a better life of your own. Since there is no justification in my own value system for stealing from others, We won't reach an understanding on this. I find such views to be parasitic and disgusting.
If you do not understand that property taxes must be considered in light of public services rendered, local/state sales tax, state payroll tax, tax on retirement income, etc, then you are lacking the whole picture.
Some states with high property tax have much lower taxes elsewhere or much better schools, etc.
Where I live , property taxes are high, but the schools are about equal to private schools, for instance. And state income tax is relatively low and they do not tax retirement income (401K distributions, IRA distributions, Social Security, pensions). Plus, there is an annual property tax credit.
Know someone who has a house in Calgary, Alberta. It's valued at a little over $400,000. She pays $35,000 a year in property taxes. Can't even imagine. Particularly since (if she didn't like her neighbor) she could spit from her kitchen window into her neighbors' kitchen window, they're that close. Crazy.
but what are your real costs? surely you dock somewhere and have to pay personal property tax on it... don't you? any boat I have ever owned has been a hole in the water that I throw money into...
They might also be leaving out the cost of fuel and "utilities" and depreciation and maintenance.
Taxes and other carrying costs (insurance) are part of our reason for buying a 2nd home in Mexico, rather than upgrade in the US. Another reason is the cost of the house itself.
Have a home in FL and one at Lake Chapala, Mexico. The homes' Fair Market Values are pretty close, around 350K in US dollars. My MX home is twice the size, has a pool, a separate casita and million dollar water views.
My real estate taxes (without any exemptions or caps, what a new buyer would pay) are:
FL: $ 4,700
MX:$ 325
This is one of the great dangers of relying so heavily on property taxes to fund schools and public services. When a municipality starts to decline, it triggers a negative feedback loop where property values start to decline, then the millage rate goes up to compensate for the eroding tax base, which creates the double whammy of encouraging more people to seek tax relief by moving out and discourages reinvestment in declining areas because major improvements brings with it a major tax increase, and it just keeps going until the place is virtually hollowed out.
Your Millage May Vary.
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