Posted on 08/22/2013 2:39:20 AM PDT by lowbridge
Mayor James "Sonny" McCullough has a great house to sell you: his.
"I can't afford the taxes," McCullough explained.
McCullough said he has been taxed out of his home by the local rates and by last year's township-wide revaluation, which caused his property taxes to shoot up nearly 60 percent, to $31,056.
"It's more than what I can afford," McCullough said. "It's kind of disappointing. I thought I would be able to live and die in my home, but it's gotten to the point where it's gotten up so high."
McCullough, 71, has lived in the township's Seaview Harbor section since 1974, when he and his wife, Georgene, moved out of Atlantic City's Chelsea Heights neighborhood. They moved another 500 feet in 1985 when they bought land and built their current home for $360,000.
Last year's reassessment said that home was worth slightly more than $1.1 million.
The McCulloughs are not the only people who have elected to vote with their feet. Real estate sales records show no Seaview Harbor properties traded hands in 2012.
Now? Five are on the market, for the average price of $1.3 million.
(Excerpt) Read more at pressofatlanticcity.com ...
Property taxes are COMMUNISM.
And this is why “property taxes” should be abolished.
No one should lose their home to the government.
Whenever I read stories like this I know there is a bad side to us here in North Florida: they look to where they can move where the taxes are far less but unfortunately they bring with them the values, ideas, and desires for government from “back there”. The other day there was a letter to editor in the local rag wherein some NE transplant was saying he did not underestand the “gun culture” here in the south because it was not that way “back there”.
My answer which has not yet been published was, if you liked it so much “back there”, why are you here?
“Property taxes are COMMUNISM.”
A coworker, a former Vietnamese boat person with a horrendous escape story involving starvation and torture, was just laid off. In a panic, he spent his entire savings to pay off his house so his family would have a guaranteed place to live. He has no cash. I explained that if he couldn’t pay the taxes his house would be sold. Now he’s really panicked. What’s worse, his electronic design skills have mostly been outsourced to India. If he does get another job he’ll have to move. But the point is, if you don’t pay the taxes you don’t own the home. As long as there are taxes you only rent.
Same BS in N C. I moved here from the Midwest, but DON’T want things to change, the local culture is just fine. Unfortunately the area is over run with idiots from NY NJ PENN and OH and the first damn thing out of their mouth is “ that’s not how we do things in X”. Fine GTFO and go back....
Nobody should ever lost their home due to taxes. This is entirely antithetical to what the Founding Fathers envisioned.
I have thought of selling off some stocks to pay off the home in these hard times. But every time I think about it, I recall stories like this.
Absolutely Right , I see you are in Florida , ,, your land can go to a tax sale after only 2 years ,, most states are 5-7 years.. I’ve bought tax deeds in Florida before and intend to buy more ... lots of land will be transferred this way when people become tapped out during the next down-leg of the ongoing Obama depression.
A few years ago I took savings and sold stock to pay off the house. When I was 59 I was laid off work, so I decided it was time to retire.
I was able to retire simply because the house was paid off. Home like mine rent for around $1500 a month, so I figure I earn $1500 a month tax free.
Because of prop 13 my taxes work out to about $100 a month, something I can easily afford.
My advise is and always will be, pay off your house if you can. You can always borrow or sell it if need be.
I was recently furloughed and am waiting to see if I will still have a job in the coming months, so believe me, it is tempting. But we just refinance at 3.24% and so feel like we are getting almost free money here.
Everyone is missing the key point in the story. Some 70% of the tax bill is for school taxes..that’s pretty much the norm in suburban communities in the northeast. The school budget is completely separate from the town budget.
Because whenever he craps in his pants, he just puts on a new pair.
Before the income tax, the US pretty much only did property tax.
The core problem of high tax is high spending. If the spending were reasonable, the taxataion rates would not be tyrannical.
The problem w/the current income tax is that it’s not flat, but property taxes currently are.
Of course, folks could advocate a fed sales tax (VAT) but unforntunately, in today’s tyranny, that would only get added to the portfolio of gov’t income and not result in a reduction of income or property tax.
Per the mayor, he should check to see if he can get a partial exemption for age (he may already have, I don’t know). I think states w/onerous property tax have large credits for retirees.
Or, you can just move. No-income-tax states make up income through property and sales tax. So what you could do is live in a high property tax state w/low or no income tax and when you retire, move to a high income tax, low property tax state.
Since I don’t see the gov’t cutting spending anytime soon, this is pretty much what folks are going to have to do.
Of course, the mayor could just arm himself and say “make me leave” when they come to take his property away.
At least in that case, he will get his wish of living AND dying on his property.
Shun them... call them what they are... do not hire them... do not let your children play with their children... you shall know them by their fruits.
LLS
Dumbazz Yankees in Jersey pay $23k/year to educate ignorant chillins in pubic schools and 40% flunk out and 60-80% of graduates are illiterate. This is terminal for the NE. Watch what happens in NYC when it gets its next worthless Mayor!
Time to separate from this scummy Federal Government!
Tell him that guns are for preventing snowbird pestilence
There are a lot of factors to consider. Age being one of them as well as what kind of interest you are getting on your savings and investment.
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