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.]
“Whattabout very steep/cliff land?”
Property taxes are used to pay for public services.
Just because a house has a cliff view doesn’t increase the cost of policing or of schooling.
OK, true. But I'd like to see MORE black kids graduate from high school... so that trade-off doesn't work for me.
How about no f*cking progressive confiscation of private property!! (what is commonly called the property tax.) Every year they take about 3%, so in about 33 years they have confiscated 100% of the value of your property. They hide the 3% part, by calling it a “mill rate.”
It’s mine. I paid for it. I’ve been taxed to the hilt already. Take your property tax and shove it up the anal exit passageway!
So the land should be taxed at $0L?
Note that NH has a view tax on (at least) residential property.
“Your first mistake....kick YOU off of THEIR land.”
The property tax collector in my county will be going to the post office tomorrow.
The bill, though unpleasant, will be far less than what I would pay for rent.
It’s a wealth tax. Similar to the Death Tax.
Thank goodness this is solved now.
“Renters are not the ones being taxed, it’s the landlords who actually own the property and are taxed.”
When I graduated in 1979, apartments went for about $350/month in Northern Virginia and somewhat over $400/month in the NYC and Boston suburbs where I would have lived.
The difference was mainly due to property taxes.
A Chinese company make take a Chinese tax deduction for workers pay.
An American importing company may take a deduction for what it paid the Chinese company.
Wal-Mart may take a deduction for what it paid the American importing company.
Renters may think they aren’t paying property tax, but they are and they will.
Taxes levied on businesses get passed on to their customers, as just about everyone here knows well.
Never the less, don’t pay that tax bill, no matter how small it may seem to you, and see how long you are allowed to stay on that land. You miss that payment to the tax collector at the post office, and pay a day late. What’s the penalty for that? That could cost you your home and property very easily under tyrannical government/crony rule.
Let’s make this proposal a little more equitable.
You don’t get to tax my land...or my home. I own it, you don’t. You can collect sales tax if I sell it...but nothing more. I should not be penalized for owning property. What’s next? Taxing my computer? My bicycle? Rainwater? Property tax is government sponsored theft.
If you can’t afford leftist programs without sales tax, too ****ing bad. Move to Canada, or some other equally inhospitable place.
“Three bedroom apartments ($3L) would all of a sudden become one bedroom apartments ($1L) with a storage room and a den.”
Nice try, but I was one step ahead of you:
Apartment sizes and square footages may be calculated based on legal requirements and property tax appraisal and building permit and other official records.
It wouldn’t matter if one room was actually stuffed with boxes and another room only had a sofa, a desk and a chair in it.
If a 1936 blueprint had it as a three-bedroom apartment, it could be taxed as one.
“Measurement systems distort the system they are trying to measure.
“It’s a fact. One can look it up.”
Almost every California househunter could tell you how much damage ad valorum taxation can do.
“So the land should be taxed at $0L?”
My system would tax the land for all housing units at a minimum of $.5L.
“for a total of $6.625L = $5.825L (building) + $.8L (land)”
“I should not be penalized for owning property. What’s next? Taxing my computer? My bicycle? Rainwater? Property tax is government sponsored theft.”
Property tax has been around for hundreds of years.
I’d love it to vanish, but it’s not going to be eliminated.
If your computer was owned by a business, it would have been subject to business equipment tax where I used to live.
Virginia and California had hated car taxes which might often vary ~30 to 1 depending on the vehicles compared.
Now in the case of a business, they can and do write off their rental costs, but as a deduction of costs for doing business. They also pay property taxes on all merchandise remaining in stock. Which is why they have sales nearing the end of the tax year. To lessen that tax burden.
> If a 1936 blueprint had it as a three-bedroom apartment, it could be taxed as one. <
But what about renovated buildings and new buildings? I can imagine that a whole new industry would be born...tax lawyers whose specialty is advising property owners how to avoid calling rooms “bedrooms”.
Also, unless I missed something, a one bedroom in a run-down apartment would be taxed just the same as a one bedroom in a luxury apartment. True?
Buy the way, your original idea is rather complicated, but it isn’t bad. In many ways it’s better than what we have today.
And as for me, I favor eliminating property taxes altogether. Bump up the state income or sales tax to make up the difference.
“a one bedroom in a run-down apartment would be taxed just the same as a one bedroom in a luxury apartment. True?”
Yes, if the square footage was the same.
Courts require school funding equality.
I’m merely proposing greater equality in the taxation to go along with court-ordered equality in service provision, such as for schooling.
“double taxation”
There is no double taxation under my system.
Land gets taxed, buildings get taxed.
A property gets taxed the same no matter how it is owned or if it is rented or not.
“But what about renovated buildings and new buildings?”
Granny can knock down a separating wall in her two-bedroom condo and make it a one-bedroom apartment.
New and renovated building would be subject to building permits.
The building permit reviewer could simply mark the plan, bedroom use permitted and the tax due would be proper.
Governments don’t long permit games with respect to their revenue streams.
“Life is complicated.
Wealth taxes are complicated.”
In 1978 California passed Prop. 13, limiting property taxes to One % of accessed value, and accessed value is what you buy it for. Minimum reasonable adjustments.
So if you buy a home for $400,000, the initial taxes will be $4,000 and increases will be limited, and will be predictable.
Realtors have been easily able to explain this because it is reasonable and simple.
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