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My Proposal for a Real Property Tax Civil Rights Act
10/31/2017 | Brian Griffin

Posted on 10/31/2017 10:03:13 AM PDT by Brian Griffin

I propose to replace the present ad valorum real property taxation system, which:
a. is racially discriminatory
b. leads to significant school funding discrepancies
c. encourages governments to drive housing prices out of reach
d. causes high value housing owners not to want lower-priced housing in their communities.

Financially, it would mainly impact California, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York.

Each building would be taxed after December 31, 2020 as follows:
$L for each studio and each one-bedroom apartment
$2L for each two-bedroom apartment
$3L for each three-bedroom or larger apartment
$3L for an attached/detached house or maisonette
plus
$L/1000 for each heated and/or cooled square foot
$L/2000 for each other roofed square foot of building space

where $L would be the taxing entity's levy rate.

[A single family house with 2,500 sq. ft. of finished space and 650 sq. ft. of unfinished space ]
[ would be taxed for the building at $5.825L = $3L (house) + $2.5L (finished space) + $.325L (unfinished space).]

Apartment sizes and square footages may be calculated based on legal requirements and property tax appraisal and building permit and other official records.

Separate locking systems and/or cooking facilities within a building may be considered as evidence for the existence of separately taxable housing units.

[A DC rowhouse with a lawful basement apartment would be taxed as an apartment and maisonette.]
[A three-story NY townhouse with apartments on each floor and in its basement would be taxed as four apartments.]
[A Worcester triple-decker would be taxed as three apartments.]
[A single family house with a granny "flat" not legal to rent to outsiders would be taxed as a house.]
[A single family house with an unlockable rented room without cooking facilities in that room would be taxable as a house.]
[A single family house rented to four college students would be taxable as a house.]

Land would be taxed after December 31, 2020 as follows:
$L/10 per acre of useable land, including woodland, but excluding desert land more than 500 feet from a paved road, swamps, wetlands and flood plains
plus
$L/10 per acre of useable open land [fields, meadows] or improved land or developed land
plus
$L/2 per housing unit (allowed) & 1,000 square feet of commercial/industrial space (allowed), in an area with zoning or built-up
plus
$L per acre of raw or improved land suitable for building within 1,000 feet of a sewer line, in an area without zoning & not built up
plus
$L/2000 per foot of public road frontage, to be apportioned to the allowable/actual housing units

[If that single family house was on a one-acre lot in New Jersey with 200 feet of road frontage it would be taxed on the land ]
[ at $.8L = $.1L (useable land) + $.1L (developed land) + $.5L (one housing unit) + $.1L (road frontage)]
[ for a total of $6.625L = $5.825L (building) + $.8L (land).]

Industrial machinery and commercial fixtures would not be subject to real property taxation.

The value of the levy rate $L must be the same throughout the levying jurisdiction.

The value of/within any levy rate $L for school funding by jurisdiction shall not vary by more than 20% within a state.

The total of levy rates for any property may not exceed $1,000 for essential public purposes, such as schools, roads and policing.

The total of levy rates for any property may not exceed $50 for non-essential public purposes, such as libraries and parks.

[That single family house may be taxed a maximum of $6,956.]

The following shall be considered outside the scope of this proposal:
1. Reasonable fees and service charges to pay for water/sewer/electric/gas service and service line installation
2. Reasonable fees/service charges/taxation to pay for garbage service for the residential housing units and other properties served
3. Reasonable taxation separately levied to pay for flood mitigation for the (potentially) impacted land.
4. Taxation for any medically-related purpose by a fixed levy per residential housing unit, regardless of type.

The taxation on a homeowner's residence shall not exceed the state constitutional limit(s).

Square footage and acreage assessments shall be accurate to within 3% or to a lower state law set limit.

Appraisals and corrections for errors shall be subject to reasonable state law procedures.

Other governmental revenue with respect to real property may only include:
1. fair impact fees reasonably related to governmental infrastructure development and enhancement costs,
never exceeding $10,000 per housing unit or $10 per square foot of a non-residential building in total over time
2. judicially-related fees and taxes, not to exceed $250 per recording or transfer or $1,000 in total with respect to any housing unit in any 10-year period

The $10, $50, $1,000 and $10,000 limits may be adjusted for inflation under state law, but not exceeding the percentage Social Security payments were.

[This system would make it easy for renters to get and take property tax deductions.]

[This system would ensure governments can't absurdly profit by making real property absurdly expensive.]


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Education; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: propertytax
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1 posted on 10/31/2017 10:03:13 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Brian Griffin

You are not allowed to tax the din’t do nuffins.

You know that.


2 posted on 10/31/2017 10:08:56 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (<img src="http://i.imgur.com/WukZwJP.gif" width=800>)
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To: Brian Griffin
"mai·son·ette (mā′zə-nĕt′, -sə-)

n. Chiefly British

1. A small house.

2. An apartment occupying two or more floors of a larger building and often having its own entrance from outside."

3 posted on 10/31/2017 10:10:20 AM PDT by Paladin2 (No spelchk nor wrong word auto substition on mobile dev. Please be intelligent and deal with it....)
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To: Brian Griffin
"excluding desert land more than 500 feet from a paved road, swamps, wetlands and flood plains "

Whattabout very steep/cliff land?

Land (over)run by Turkeys, Hawks, Deer, Bobcats and Mountain Lions?

4 posted on 10/31/2017 10:13:57 AM PDT by Paladin2 (No spelchk nor wrong word auto substition on mobile dev. Please be intelligent and deal with it....)
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To: Brian Griffin

or move to southern Missouri...way low here.... unreal low here


5 posted on 10/31/2017 10:20:25 AM PDT by curdogmen (we got a dog in this hunt)
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To: Brian Griffin

Property owners will find ways to beat this just like the French did when they invented the “mansard” roof. France taxed by # of floors, not counting attics above the roofline. Answer? Lower the roofline on upper floors. One could write a book about clever schemes such as this.


6 posted on 10/31/2017 10:24:22 AM PDT by Chauncey Gardiner
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To: Brian Griffin

Your first mistake: Assuming that you OWN the property that you live on.

Your second mistake: You paid somebody for property to live on, that they did not own themselves.

And finally: You paid money, with interest, to a financial institution for property that they do not hold absolute title to.

All it takes is not paying property taxes (government rent) for a year or so, to allow the government to reclaim THEIR property, and to kick YOU off of THEIR land.


7 posted on 10/31/2017 10:24:35 AM PDT by factoryrat (We are the producers, the creators. Grow it, mine it, build it. MAGA!)
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To: Brian Griffin

Property taxes are evil. You only rent your property to the government. Don’t pay your taxes and see who comes and gets it...


8 posted on 10/31/2017 10:26:23 AM PDT by WKUHilltopper (WKU 2016 Boca Raton Bowl Champions)
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To: Brian Griffin

“$L per acre of raw or improved land suitable for building within 1,000 feet of a sewer line, in an area without zoning & not built up “

Closest boundary, furtherest boundary, average or center of property?


9 posted on 10/31/2017 10:29:53 AM PDT by TexasGator (Z)
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To: Brian Griffin

Way too complicated.


10 posted on 10/31/2017 10:31:57 AM PDT by truth_seeker
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To: Brian Griffin

Property tax is nothing more than a protection racket.


11 posted on 10/31/2017 10:32:04 AM PDT by Trod Upon (Government employees and welfare recipients are both net tax consumers. Often for life.)
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To: Brian Griffin
My issue?

I don't pay for water based on an ‘average’ of all citizens INCLUDING those who leave their outdoors hoses running because “who wants to go out and turn the hose off...”

I don't pay an ‘average’ on my power bill with people who leave the windows open when the AC is on because they like fresh air...

We each pay for what we use.

So why do I have to pay for police protection that's primarily used in the black community (IN EVERY CITY THAT HAS A BLACK COMMUNITY)...

How can you make that fair?

(Oh, and I wouldn't object if they appreciated the ‘tax gift’ from the rest of us - all the other racial groups that don't require babysitting - but they don't. The black community ‘gives the knee’ for our effort.... Isn't it time they pay for their own police protection? And we pay for ours? It would go a long way for stopping resentment on all sides... )

12 posted on 10/31/2017 10:35:16 AM PDT by GOPJ ( http://fakehatecrimes.org/ - List of fake hate crimes against traditional/conservative Americans)
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To: WKUHilltopper

Wealth tax. Mostly borne by the industrious and long term planners.


13 posted on 10/31/2017 10:37:24 AM PDT by Paladin2 (No spelchk nor wrong word auto substition on mobile dev. Please be intelligent and deal with it....)
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To: Brian Griffin
This system would make it easy for renters to get and take property tax deductions

Renters are not the ones being taxed, it's the landlords who actually own the property and are taxed. Do you think renters would want a tax deduction? That would mean they would pay more then the deduction, for something that they gain no value except for a structure over their head, that also increases their monthly costs for that structure.

If renters desire a real property deduction, then they must become property owners. Just as they get a deduction for the car they own when it comes to real property taxation.

Fortunately I am exempt from property taxes per Louisiana law that limits the value of a property subject to taxation. Which is exactly why I chose the property that I chose.

14 posted on 10/31/2017 10:37:28 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: Brian Griffin

Keep the feds out of property taxes - state is more than enough...


15 posted on 10/31/2017 10:37:38 AM PDT by reed13k
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To: WKUHilltopper

> Property taxes are evil. You only rent your property to the government. Don’t pay your taxes and see who comes and gets it... <

Well said. There has got to be another way. Maybe states should just eliminate property taxes, and add whatever percentage is needed to the state’s sales tax (and/or income tax). Keep it simple.


16 posted on 10/31/2017 10:38:20 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: Chauncey Gardiner

Measurement systems distort the system they are trying to measure.

It’s a fact. One can look it up.


17 posted on 10/31/2017 10:39:28 AM PDT by Paladin2 (No spelchk nor wrong word auto substition on mobile dev. Please be intelligent and deal with it....)
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To: truth_seeker

Life is complicated.

Wealth taxes are complicated.


18 posted on 10/31/2017 10:43:46 AM PDT by Paladin2 (No spelchk nor wrong word auto substition on mobile dev. Please be intelligent and deal with it....)
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To: Chauncey Gardiner; Brian Griffin

> Property owners will find ways to beat this... <

Right you are, Chauncey. Three bedroom apartments ($3L) would all of a sudden become one bedroom apartments ($1L) with a storage room and a den.


19 posted on 10/31/2017 10:50:30 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: GOPJ

“How can you make that fair?”

You can’t, but you can make things fairer.

One group might get much more police protection, but that same group might have half of its members dropping out of high school.

I’ve tried to make things quite fair and fairly simple.

You may think market value is simple, but my house has never been sold in its 39 years.

The county assessed my neighbors’ house as if it was in an exclusive subdivision a few years ago.

There are two houses for sale on my street. The asking prices are about $30,000 to $50,000 too high.


20 posted on 10/31/2017 10:51:25 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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