Posted on 11/20/2022 4:22:14 AM PST by ExGeeEye
To me, property tax explodes the myth of "property ownership".
Every single one of you who "owns" a house, a piece of land-- even if you have paid off the usually lifetime debt it cost to "buy" it--
--rents it from "the king", the State, the Friendly Person who smiles and smiles (from June to November biennially or quadrennially) and is a villain (the rest of the time).
Try not paying your "rent". A house or farm or whatever might have been in your family since 1854 (or longer), with the "title" framed over the fireplace built by hand by an ancestor-- or bought on a Jimmy Carter 20% mortgage in 1978 and paid off in time to greet Obama--
-- and men, backed up with men with guns, will come to push you out of it.
You cannot refute this: you can only provide the "justifications" that you have decided to live with, and bury deep the knowledge that it is perpetuated only by the collective acquiescence of a comfortable citizenry.
No, I've never personally suffered over this issue, except in my knowledge of it.
"What's your solution?"
Enshrine in law the plenary right of property ownership.
That's it.
You buy a house? It's all yours, exactly the same as my sister's dollhouse, given her when she was five, which she then gave to me ("freehold"?) when we became the elder generation. No one is coming to claim payment from me for that one-- not yet.
I hear there's movement afoot to tax potentially valuable personal property such as antiques... while such attitudes persist, my sister's dollhouse is not safe.
A Saturday Rant
***********
You are a day late or six days early. Have a good day.
Meh, it keeps things fluid and helps avoid a landed aristocracy. Sort of like what they say about living in Manhattan - get rich or get out.
Just keep running to stay in place. ;-)
Public education is the reason for property taxes; lose the property tax and the tax burden will just shift elsewhere (which I agree is still an improvement). The real problem is that most Americans have turned from individualists prior to the 1930s, toward collectivism; albeit at a slightly slower pace than our European counterparts. Most Americans today cannot imagine paying for their own children’s education. Of course this would be cheaper and higher quality, because everyone has skin in the game and is paying personally. I look at my Amish neighbors and their small schoolhouses (three within walking distance). On average, their kids are smarter than the public schooled kids in the area, yet their education costs are negligible. In nearby Maryland, the highest cost per capita schools have the worst performing students.
There should be no such thing as income tax.
There should be no such thing as property tax.
Property should be allodial — you own it. You really, really own it. The government isn’t your landlord and doesn’t control your property.
Government revenue should come from tariffs and some a national retail sales tax. And government revenue should be minimal and government should be small and weak.
We’ve done everything incorrectly.
Nothing sucks more than being robbed by government....except being jailed for trying to stop them.
We in Pennsylvania have been trying to get rid of the school/property tax for years. Over 10,000 people in our state lose their homes here every year - many of them seniors on fixed incomes and homes paid off. They almost got rid of it in 2015, when the Pa legislature voted and it was a tie, but our democrat Lieutenant Gov. at the time broke the tie and walked away snickering. A pox on him and all who voted against it. >:-(
The inheritance tax is the most evil.
Deed vs title. What are the differences?
What is a house title?
The title to a house and the property associated with a house makes you its legal owner and gives you the right to sell it. Title typically gives you the right to live in the house and use it as you please, as long as you follow the laws and regulations affecting the property. For example, zoning laws may restrict the renovations and improvements you are allowed to make to a property you own or restrict the kinds of businesses you can run from it. Finally, title usually gives you the right to decide who is and isn’t allowed to enter your property.
When one person holds the title to real estate, this is often called “sole ownership.” More than one person can hold title to a property as well. One common form of title is “joint tenancy” which is often chosen by two people who are married or partners. In this case, each person shares ownership rights equally and has the right to survivorship. The right to survivorship means that if one of the partners dies, the surviving partner automatically becomes the full owner of the house and property.
Establishing that the current owner of a house holds the legal title to that house is an important part of buying and selling a home. This is usually done through a property title search.
https://www.freedommortgage.com/learning-center/articles/deed-vs-title
Good post.‘’I was thinking the same thing when I went in to pay my property taxes a few weeks ago.
If it’s “mine” I mean really mine then wouldn’t I not have to pay anyone?
In a way we are all renting our homes and land from the “Guberment”.
I’d rather pay a little more on sales tax, I can always choose to buy less but I can’t choose to not have a home (well not willingly).
Property tax is evil.
Those are my sentiments exactly and the way I’ve articulated them is also been similar. Most crucially, when you paid property taxes you are simply renting your property from the government.
In fact, that’s why I decided to retire to Kentucky where I can own my home free and clear with the exception of property taxes, but still, the property taxes are only a few hundred dollars a year for 32 acres, a house, a large shop building, and a large barn. Plus two streams.
I refuse to live in an area where the government shakes you down and keeps you as an indentured slave just to pay the taxes on your property. When I was a kid in the early sixties my parents paid $60 a month in rent for a pretty nice three bedroom rambler. That’s only a fraction of what the property taxes on such a house would be now where I used to live.
Wholeheartedly agree, as someone forced to sell the family home because the school tax was too high. However, a tax to pay for trash pickup (for example) is justifiable, but you shouldn’t lose your house if you can’t pay it.
Even worse is if you live rural. You pay in, but will see very little if any of those dollars coming back to your area. They are all spent in the major cities of your county.
I think that once a city incorporates from the county they should only receive what revenue is collected within those city limits and nothing more from the county surrounding it.
You have iterated a long-held grievance of mine and of many.
I laugh when someone tells me that they ‘own’ their house...don’t pay your property tax, and you’ll see who owns your house...real quick.
$22/yr here in rural MO for 8 acres with what’s been classified as a cabin on it because it’s small and is of pole barn design. No foundation.
We do have personal tangible property tax which includes livestock, even chickens. Yes, they tax your chickens here. I’ve never claimed mine. I don’t feed them and they’re free-range so as far as I’m concerned, they’re local wildlife.
As far as vehicles and trailers. If it’s not titled in my name in MO, I technically don’t own it as far as they know so I don’t claim it. My ex-wife did list my little tractor one year so now I have to claim that.
No taxation without representation.
So you don’t want roads, or schools, or sheriffs, or fire departments, or libraries, or parks, because property tax pays for your local services from your county or municipal government.
The real evil in income tax, collected by the federal government, used to fun an FBI that labels and investigates concerned parents who demand their school boards stop teaching perverted sexual ideas to our children as ‘domestic terrorists.’
A federal government who uses the justice system to investigate and prosecute honest citizens who protest a crooked and rigged election system to keep themselves in power and ignore the will of the People.
A federal government who prolongs two wars in faraway countries for twenty years, costing Trillions of our treasure and thousands of lives and making money for the crooked politicians all the while, then as soon as someone with sanity comes along and stops those wars, concocts a new proxy war in Europe so the gravy train can continue.
No, you don’t hate property taxes, you hate income taxes.
You can escape property tax if you are a senior & live in a state that has property tax exemption & the property is below a certain value. I don’t know how many of them do. I understand that some have property tax exemption, but it is only partial & the tax is even then pretty high. I don’t know the details on this, though.
Well, my income tax was based on income & as my income was usually low, I didn’t pay a lot. Property tax however was not based on your ability to pay. That’s why I always hated property tax. Unless you had an exemption, you had to pay, regardless of income. If you didn’t pay, your property could be sold later for taxes due. What could be more unfair? Property tax was also based on property value, whether you had any money or not. Guess who figured the value of your property? Suppose you were an older, poor widow who had inherted property of some value & your husband had died? Could be real bad news.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.